PART 3 .] 
Oldham: Geology of the Central Provinces. 
75 
Several forms of Labyrintlioclont reptiles from the Lower Panehet rocks of Bengal 
remains of the very remarkable genus" Dkynadon, previously only known from South Africa, 
and abundance of Estherice (small hivalved crustaceans) mark the fauna of the time in 
Eastern India. In the Central Provinces similar Estherice and a remarkable reptile 
(Brachyops latieeps) have been obtained from Man git thirty miles north of Ch&nda, 
while the red clays of Maledi afford numerous remains of the very curious and interesting 
ITyperodapedon, Belodon, and some Labyrinthodont fragments also. There is a high proba¬ 
bility that the rocks at these different localities are all truly on or about the same geological 
liorkon (a fact which can only be satisfactorily established by detailed and careful 
observation), and that that horizon represents in Indian geological homotaxis the period of 
the Trias of Europe. 
In the vicinity of Jabalpur and stretching down the valley of the Narbada to the 
Sher river, and a little beyond, and forming also 
a narrow outcrop fringing the general line of the 
trappean boundary to the east and north of Jabalpur, a distinct group of rocks was recog¬ 
nised by Mr. J. G. Medlicott in 1856-57. This limited group of beds is partially coal-bearing, 
and from this fact and from certain other obscure relations, it was at first designated under 
the inappropriate name of Upper Damudd, with which series it was, pending 
further inquiry, supposed to be connected, while the fossil plants which it imbedded were 
closely allied to those occurring in the Jurassic beds of Itajmahal and Cutoh. Subsequent 
inquiry showed that there was really no ground for supposing any connection of these beds 
with the true Iiamudd as parts of one formation, and the name Jabalpur group was 
substituted for Tipper Damudd. 
At about 100 miles to the north-east of the Narbada coal basin the boundary of 
the plateau of trap-rocks recedes south-eastwards, and the narrow outcrop of these Jabalpur 
beds expands here into the open ground of South Rowa; there the Jabalpur shales and 
silt beds were found passing upwards into massive sandstones (at Bandogarh) so generally 
identical with the rocks of the great Mahadeo hills, that they were at once accepted as 
their representatives ; while below the Jabalpur shales overlaid strong pebbly sandstones 
and conglomerates, which again in the southern part of the same area rested upon a coal- 
bearing group, recognisable at once by its contained fossils and general character as repre¬ 
sentatives of the Damudd series. The Jabalpur beds have not as yet been traced with any 
care in other districts, and I am unable to state their true limits. Their contained fossils 
point distinctly to a Jurassic age aud to the lower part of that great period. In the 
N arb a da nothing but plant-remains have been found. We may, however, although the 
connection has not been traced, point to the remarkable beds near Not a—about five miles 
from Si r on cli A—which have yielded several well-marked fish-remains (Lepidotus Deccan - 
easts, LEchmodus, Sfc.) considered as Liassic in their relations, as a probable representative to 
the south of the Jabalpur beds to the north. There are also some detached patches of rock 
which occur in the intermediate country which may be representatives of the same general 
age. The coal found in these Jabalpur beds is very irregularly developed (Sher river; 
L a m e t a - g h a t). It is jetty, and has much of the character of a true lignite; indeed iu 
many specimens the structure of the now-carbonised stems, of which a largo portion of it is 
made, is well preserved. It has been economised recently to a considerable extent by the 
contractors on the Great Indian Peninsula Kail way. But neither in amount nor in quality 
does it constitute a source of fossil fuel of any importance in a general view. I mentioned 
above, that immediately resting on the Jabalpur beds, where the succession is best seen 
(South Bewa), came the massive sandstones of B a n d og ar h, which were accepted as repre¬ 
sentatives of the great Mahadeo group, so well seen in the upper and magnificent scarps of 
the Pa cli mar hi hills (Central Provinces). 
