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examination of the gastropods, lamellibranchs and annelid remains in this collection has also been taken in hand.

Dr. M. R. Sahni has devoted some time to the identification of the Devonian faunas collected by him from Me-so, Taungtek and the intervening area, Southern Shan States. Amongst the fossils found are Spirifer (Reticularia) curvatus Schloth., Sp. (Reticularia) aviceps Kays., Cyrtina heteroclyta Defrance, Orthis (Schizophoria) striatula Schloth., Spirifer speciosus Schloth. var. mesoensis nov. Atrypa reticularis Linn., Leptana rhomboidalis Wilck., Calymene cf. malaungkaensis Mansuy. Some of the new species identified are Rhynchonella thannooensis, Platyceras kachinensis, Pleurotomaria lihsawensis and Meristella palaungensis. Dr. Sahni's preliminary note on this fauna appears in Proc. Twenty-fifth Ind. Sci. Congr. Part 3, Abstr. pp. 114-115, 1938.

The large oysters collected by Dr. C. S. Fox from the western side of the Shorbaly anticline, Afghanistan, have now been examined and identified by Dr. M. R. Sahni as Exogyra cf. ponderosa, Romer. This species is widely distributed in the Cenomanian. The containing beds are therefore of Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) age.

Certain specimens received from the Locust Research Entomologist to the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research (through the Director, Zoological Survey of India) were examined by Dr. M. R. Sahni. The material collected from Pasni in Baluchistan was found to contain foraminifera, mostly referable to the genus Rotalia. Only recent species of the genus appear to be represented in this material. The fossil specimens from Jaisalmer State were identified by Dr. Sahni as Assilina granulosa D'Arch. and its megalospheric form A. leymerie D'Arch. and Haime, referable to the Laki stage of the Eocene.

An enlarged diagrammatic sketch of pore-pairs of the type of Micropedina spheroides Stol. was prepared by Dr. M. R. Sahni and sent to Dr. Th. Mortensen, University Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, who is writing a monograph on the echinoids.

Dr. L. F. Spath, who examined Dr. Coulson's collection of belemnites from the Nai Kach, Danawat and Haidari Kach stages of Waziristan, is of the opinion that the former two are of Neocomian age and the latter may be a little higher in the Lower Cretaceous.

The ammonites and belemnites collected by Dr. A. L. Coulson from near Pezu, Bannu district, N.-W. Frontier Province were also sent to Dr. L. F. Spath for examination. He is of the opinion that

the former are Criocerates similar to those from the Trigonia schwarzi beds of Tanganyika. Their age is Neocomian but higher than of the Neocomian of the Salt Range, and probably Hauterivian. The belemnites are not distinguishable from those of the previous Waziristan collections of Lower Cretaceous age.

Plants.

29. The small collections of fossil plants from the Janjal plant series of Waziristan made by Dr. A. L. Coulson and Capt. Murray Stuart were sent to Prof. B. Sahni for examination. According to Prof. Sahni, Dr. Coulson's algal specimens consist mostly of indeterminable fragments. Dr. Stuart's collection contains algal impressions, which throw no light on the age of the beds. These algal remains are important in view of the fact that hardly any fucoid remains have so far been described or figured from India, but unfortunately they have not so far proved to be of stratigraphical value.

Under the supervision of Prof. B. Sahni, Mr. R. V. Sitholey has written a brief report on Dr. Fox's collection of fossil plants from Afghan Turkestan. According to this report most of the specimens in this collection are either identical with, or closely allied to, species described by Prof. A. C. Seward (Pal. Ind. N. S. Vol. IV, Mem. No. 4, 1912) from Afghanistan. (Proc. Twenty-fifth Ind. Sci. Congr. Part 3, Abstr. p. 151, 1938.)

Mr. A. R. Rao, who is working under the direction of Prof. B. Sahni on the plant remains collected by Mr. G. V. Hobson from Nipania in the Rajmahal Hills, reports the occurrence of two new species, (1) Nipaniostrobus Sahnii gen. et sp. nov. and (2) Masculostrobus rajmahalensis sp. nov., in this collection. (Proc. Twentyfifth Ind. Sci. Congr. Part 3, Abstr. pp. 151-152, 1938.)

Donations.

30. During the year under review, presentations and loans of fossils or casts were made to the following persons or institutions:Osmania University College, Biology Department.-A small collection of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils.

Visva Bharati, Santiniketan.-A collection of vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossil specimens from different geological horizons.

Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.—13 casts of Indian fossil primates.

Director, City of Liverpool Free Public Museum, Liverpool.— A small collection of invertebrate fossil specimens (by exchange).

Sir Parashurambhau College, Poona.-A small collection of vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossil specimens. Christ Church Girls' High School, Jubbulpore.-A small collection of vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossil specimens. Director, Mining and Geological Survey Department, Netherlands Indies.-A specimen of Lepidocyclina limestone (by exchange.)

Robert L. Rist., Esq., Department of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, California.-Two specimens of Aucella parva Stol. (on loan). Two specimens of A. blanfordiana Stol. and one of A. spiliensis Holdh. (by exchange).

Prof. B. Sahni, University of Lucknow, Lucknow.-A natural size photograph of Protocyathea trichinopoliensis Feist. The Botanical Society of Bengal, Calcutta.-18 plant fossil speci

mens from the Gondwanas and Tertiaries of India was given on loan for exhibition on the occasion of their first Annual General Meeting.

Indian Botanical Society.-A. collection of Indian plant fossil specimens was sent on loan for exhibition at the Annual Meeting of the Society.

Siemen Wm. Muller, Esq., Associate Professor, Stanford University, California. One specimen each of Fragum præcurrens Stol., Cardium (Trachycardium) incomptum, and three of Cardium (Trachycardium) exulans in exchange of ammonite specimens received from him.

31. In addition to those previously mentioned, fossils were received either by presentation or exchange from the following:Yale-Cambridge Expedition (through Dr. S. L. Hora, Zoological Survey of India).-Some fish remains from the Karewas of Kashmir.

A. N. Kashyap, Esq., Thomason College, Roorkee.-Six fossiliferous blocks collected from Waziristan.

M. Spender, Esq., Karakoram Expedition.-Some molluscan and coral fossils collected from Wesm valley.

Director, Mining and Geological Survey Department, Netherlands Indies. A specimen of Atjeh limestone containing Eule pidina and Spiroclypeus.

STRATIGRAPHY.

32. In April I visited Bikaner City to advise on a deep boring for water which had gone down over 2,000 feet, and also examined the quarries at Dulmera, 42 miles N. E. of Vindhyans, Bikaner. Bikaner City, from which the handsome building-stone so extensively and effectively used in the city is taken. The deep bore runs into similar sandstones at 240 feet, but they are not reached in the workings of the Palana colliery, about 300 feet in depth, which are situated 14 miles south of Bikaner and are in Eocene rocks.

The sandstones at Dulmera are horizontal, hard, dark red-brown and fawn in colour, often blotched, streaked and spotted in these two colours and are in massive beds, often false-bedded. They resemble the supposed Vindhyan sandstones of Jodhpur and the Upper Bhander sandstone of the Vindhyan plateau.

Another small outcrop, as boulders, occurs immediately east of the railway line at mile 81 on the railway line which runs northeast from Bikaner City, 2 miles south of Dhirera railway station. This is a red sandstone cemented by calcite, with a number of oolitic grains amongst the subangular quartz and felspar grains. Heavy minerals are abundant, particularly tourmaline and garnet. 48.1 per cent. of this rock is soluble in hydrochloric acid, and a partial analysis gives F203+Al2O3, 0·90 per cent., CaO, 18-77 per cent. and MgO, 2.16 per cent. It is probably also Vindhyan.

The Eocene rocks are concealed by about a hundred feet of alluvium at Palana, the coal having been accidentally struck in sinking a well, but to the west they crop out Eocene, Bikaner. near Gajner and extend as a tract of smooth, bare, gently rolling country, past Madh and Kolayat and ending near Bithnok. They comprise a great variety of sediments :-soft, white, sugary sandstones, tinged with pink and red, purple quartzites, surprisingly hard for Tertiary rocks, layers of ironstone, which strew their hard debris widely over the country, fuller's earth (Multani mitti) with well-preserved marine lamellibranchs, white nummulitic limestone, and thin bands of lignite.

Conglomerates. Singh.

bhum.

33. During the year Dr. Dunn had occasion to visit Gua, Singhbhum, and examined certain of the conglomerates which are now better exposed than during the course of Mr. H. C. Jones' survey. It is clear that, at Jiling Buru, Gua, the conglomerate, which underlies shales and rests on cherty and other quartzites, marks an unconformity. Whether the conglomerate here is to be correlated with others in this vicinity in South Singhbhum, Keonjhar and adjacent States is not as yet certain, but if so, it raises the question of a wide-spread unconformity occurring within the area of the Iron-ore series rocks. There is also, now, the strong possibility that the banded hematite-quartzites, iron-ores and related phyllitic shales are really of the same age as the group known as the Older Metamorphics. If this is so, the stratigraphical sequence becomes simplified and is in close agreement with the clearly divided stratigraphy of Northern Singhbhum and Dhalbhum; the conglomerates become equivalent to the Dhanjori conglomerates of the latter area.

It is hoped that the continuation of Mr. Jones' and Dr. Krishnan's work in Keonjhar State may clear up some of these points, and a re-examination of a number of the conglomerate outcrops is also indicated as desirable.

EARTHQUAKES.

34. During the year 1937 reports of 82 perceptible earthquake shocks felt by persons at rest were reported from various parts of India. With the exception of the rather severe shock of 14th November, which originated in the Hindu Kush region and affected a considerable tract of north-west India, the rest of the shocks were of slight intensity, unattended with any damage to buildings or persons

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The epicentre of the shock of 14th November 1937 has been located in the Hindu Kush mountains, north-west of Drosh, in Chitral. This has been deduced from observers' reports and from seismographic records available from the Meteorological Observatories

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