8£ Records of the Geological Survey of India. [yol. ii. 
well, though throughout the deposit the occurrence of bones is irregular, capricious, 
and local. 
A good section displaying the relation of these grit-courses to the less coherent rock 
around them, is seen in the hills about three miles east of Shuebandor, or about fifteen miles 
east of Alan-mio. The hills are here steeply cut in the bed I am describing, the surface 
being covered with the usual gravel, with abundance of silicifiod wood and ferruginous 
concretions, the former completely blocking many of the deep gullies cut on the hill side. 
Strewed about here may likewise be seen numerous lustrous fragments of iron slag, from 
the native furnaces once scattered over these hills. The sand here presents its usual incohe¬ 
rent, typical character, but a compact sandstone, passing into a coarse grit in patches, is 
somewhat freely developed in irregular lenticular courses in it. On the surface of the inco¬ 
herent sand at this spot, and evidently weathered out of it, I picked up a fragment of the 
lower jaw of a deer, and from the immediate vicinity I collected mammalian bones, mostly 
ill preserved and fragmentary, shark vertebras and teeth, and chelonian plates (Colossochelys 
and two species of Emys). In the great, slabs of grit lying about amidst the debris of the 
wasting sand which enveloped them shark’s teeth were plentiful, accompanying mammalian 
bones and fragments of wood, many of which had been perfectly rounded by attrition 
before they were embedded. These pieces of wood are, however, not common. Another 
locality where bones are still more abundant is one-half mile north-east of Talok, or fourteen 
miles north-east of Thaiet-mio on the east bank of a stream not marked on the map. Bones 
are here far from scarce, but friable and ill preserved. They occur both in the incoherent 
sand and also in the coarse grit and conglomerate associated with it, together with shark's 
teeth and small pieces of wood. At this spot there is a good deal of coarse conglomerate, 
and in accordance with the indications afforded by these coarser beds we find the bones 
of a larger size, and many of these much rolled and abraded before they were finally 
embedded. Here I got a fragment of the lower jaw of an elephant, together with fragment¬ 
ary portions of the limb bones of that animal, all imperfect either from original violence or 
subsequent decay, the former cause certainly operating in some instances. 
I may here remark that the bones found in this group (within the area I am now concerned 
with) are not all in the same mineral condition. The majority are somewhat imperfectly mineral¬ 
ized and consequently decay very readily when bared to the atmosphere by the wasting of the 
surrounding rock, and this I am convinced is the reason of so few bones being found on 
the surface, even in spots where the rock is seen to contain them somewhat plentifully. 
A few fragments may here and there remain, but most of the bones noticed by me were so 
tender, that it was clear that a short exposure to atmospheric action would reduce them to 
crumbling masses, which would break up and leave scarcely a trace behind them. A bone is, 
however, here and there found in the water courses well mineralized and calculated to defy 
atmospheric action, but the scarcity of these fragments attests that such is not the usual 
condition of bones in these beds. That these well mineralized bones are derived from the 
same beds as the more friable ones is undeniable. The best mineralized bone perhaps met 
with was the part of a deer’s jaw above mentioned, and this most Certainly was derived from 
the soft incoherent sand whereon I picked it up. The astragalus of a ruminant f ' Cervine 1) 
found also by me during a former season, was in like manner an isolated example of well pre¬ 
served bone, though being found in a small stream its parent bed was not demonstrable. In 
Upper Burmah well mineralized bones are probably more common to judge by those which have 
been at various times collected there, and the difference is merely the result of different condi¬ 
tions at the time of their deposition, such as we might expect to prevail, and depending pro¬ 
bably on the irregular access or supply of silica in solution. That tho supply of this silica 
must have been at some period abundant is testified by the enormous amount of silicified 
trunks everywhere met with, but the horizon of these is certainly higher than that at which 
the bones in question occur, and although small pieces of silicified wood occur commingled 
with the bones, it docs not therefore follow that the same abundant effusion of silica took 
place at the time of their deposition as subsequently occurred when whole forests were silici¬ 
fiod, and this I should be inclined to regard as the true explanation of this condition of 
most of the bones in this sand, viz., an insufficient supply of silica in solution. 
As a rule, it is not, however, in the sand but in the coarser and more conglomeratic beds 
that the bones seem mostly to occur, of which a good instance is seen midway between 
Ornouk and Lema, some 19 miles east-south-east from Thaiet-mio. Here a great bed of 
