]84 
[vOL. XII. 
Mecords of the Geological Sureeg of India. 
Tliongh tliese fossils are more or less deformed by oblique pressure, yet tbe 
species can without difficulty be determined. All the specimens belong to one 
and the same species, and cannot be distinguished from Spirifor Iteilhavi, Buch., 
(Sp. BajaJi, Salt.). As this species is one of those mo.st characteristic of the 
carboniferous formation in the Himalaya, and as thus the determination of the 
age of the rocks from Avhich these fossils came considerably differs from the age 
hitherto attiibuted to the Attock slates, it is necessary to be doubly cautious in 
accepting the current opinion regarding these slates. 
The rock in which the fossils are proserved is, as stated abore, a black, not 
very hard slate, such as I have seen to occur at many places in the Attock slates ; 
but thei’e are also outside of the Punjab some localities where similar slates 
occur. I have myself seen similar slates from the Milam pass -which seem also 
to belong to the carboniferous formation, and seem to be there inferior to white 
limestones, also full of carboniferous fossils, the latter, however, of a much more 
recent type. Similar slates have been described by Lydekker from Eishmakam 
in Kashmir, whilst at other places in the same territory the carboniferous fonn- 
ation is composed nearly entirely of thick limestones. The slates of Eishmakam 
have been compared by Lydekker to the “ Kiol group ” and the limestones to 
the “ Great limestone ” of the outer Himalaya. Thus it might be very possible 
that in the Himalaya the carboniferous formation should present two sub-di-vi- 
sions, one older slaty, and one younger calcareous sub-division. This, however, 
does not prevent that at many localities the whole formation might be made up of 
massive limestones. 
If, therefore, the fossils under consideration did not come from the Punjab, 
they might have come from several parts of the Himalaya. There is, however, 
no reason to doubt their coming from the Punjab. There exists in the Punjab 
a great amount of rocks perfectly similar in appearance to the rock in which 
the specimens occur, and if those rocks up to the present have proved apparently 
unfossiliferons, this does not exclude the possibility that there exist localities 
■where fossils do occur. That all these fossils belong only to one species already 
goes far to prove that the slates containing them are not \mry rich in fossils. 
How much it depends on circumstances whether one does meet Avith certain 
fossils is also exemplified by the fact that I as well as Mr. Wynne have been 
searching in A-ain in the Salt-range for determinable plant remains, and yet there 
are several beautifully presoiwed plant remains from the Salt-range in the Geo¬ 
logical Society’s collection. 
Thus Ave may fairly accept the indications of the label attached to these 
specimens of Spirif. Tceilliavi as correct; and from this it would follow, that the 
Attock slates will have to be considered in future as belonging very likely to the 
carboniferous period. 
If we accept this view, one of Mr. Wynne’s remarks becomes of special im¬ 
portance ; this is that the limestones of Gandgarh remind one more or less of 
the great limestone of the Jamu hills. This Avould fit entirely into the state of 
things observed elsewhere, and the discrepancy, at least in the carboniferous 
formation, betAveen Kashmir, damn, and Hazara would no longer be so striking 
as is supposed by Mr. Wynne. These limestones are entirely absent in the 
