would it be possible, where from the presence of strata of the secondary series, the complete section of the alluvium must be exposed, that within the limits I have examined, not one instance of fossil remains has occurred imbedded in it? To what cause then can their absence be attributed, but that they have been decomposed by the force of heat, before they could attain a state necessary for their preservation? To what then do the present specimens owe their existence? I must suppose either to the interposition of some body (water for instance) between them and the sun's rays, or to their having been petrified in the colder latitudes of the Himálaya, and lodged in the situations from which they were procured by the action of the current.

The fact of their being found in every stage between freshness, fossilization and petrifaction entirely excludes the idea of their having been uncovered by the deepening of the river having washed among any portion of the secondary strata, by which they would have been exhumed from the stratum in which they had been petrified: had the petrifaction taken place there, they must have all occupied that position from the known age of the general alluvium; a sufficient time to have been all alike or nearly so, which is not the case.

The following observations made on the conglomerate formation may throw some light on the subject.

The Conglomerate Rocks,

Are composed of nodule kankar and extraneous substances-and consist of two separate formations, both of which are strictly mechanical, together composing one-third of the rocks of the Jumna. Their difference consists in one formation being consolidated by means of cement, the other by the intervention of carbonate of lime deposited whilst in solution in all the interstices of any mass, thus connecting the whole together.

Before proceeding further, it will be necessary to explain how these nodules of kankar and extraneous substances are accumulated, and then show the method of application of the consolidating bodies. In all the high and nearly perpendicular banks of the Jumna, ravines are cut out by heavy runs of water at short and irregular intervals, which serve as drains to the surrounding country. During the heavy periodical rains, considerable bodies of water rush through these ravines with great violence, bringing down drift wood, rubbish of every description, nodule kankar, and large portions of clay detached by the water from the sides and beds of the ravines. The latter generally arrives in the river rolled into figures varying between a prolate ellipsoid and spheroid, (spec. z,) of all sizes, and from 20 lbs. to of an ounce in weight. The clay being softened in its rolling progress,

attaches to its circumference every substance hard enough to make a sufficiently deep impression to secure its hold; this continues until every portion of the outer surface is covered, when, of course, the accumulation ceases; in this state it is washed from the ravine into the bed of the river, on reaching which, it is carried forward in a new direction of the current of the river, which deposits it in the nearest hollow in its bed, where after lying a sufficient time, the body disunites ; the lighter earthy particles are swept away by the stream, whilst the clay kankar, and other substances which may have been brought down with them, remain as deposited there: thus are all the necessary ingredients at once provided for the formation of a conglomerate rock except the sand, which in the course of a few hours generally proves the most abundant article of the composition, when only a sufficient time for the cement to set is necessary to present a rock, which the carbonate of lime (which fills all interstices that may be left) ultimately renders the hardest, and from their situation, very frequently the most dangerous rocks of the Jumna. (Specs. 6.)

The conglomerate in which carbonate of lime is the consolidating medium is generally produced by the breaking up of the beds of nodule kankar, by the supporting pillar of clay (its substratum) being washed away, or other causes, the loose or interior nodules, of which are then deposited in the nearest hollow lower down the stream that can detain them, when from the absence of clay (excepting this dislodgement occurs in the monsoon), the cement cannot be produced, and the deposit remains until by the usual process of tufa formation, the whole becomes one consolidated mass, (spec. 8,) this, however, must be the work of time, during which, sand often fills many of the interstices, and becomes a part of the conglomerate body.

The fractured edges of remains of nodule kankar beds often present this formation, although from the difficulties it has to encounter, a very small proportion of the conglomerate rocks of the Jumna belong to this class. The principal tufa formation that I am acquainted with, was removed by Lieut. MARTIN, Engineers, from near the village of Orowal, where the accompanying specimens were collected. (Spec. 8.).

Most of the specimens in your hands, Sir, will speak for themselves. I select, however, one instance of the cement formation, in which the fossil remains of an elephant are imbedded, which I consider, claims a particular description.

The site of the mass containing these interesting remains on the right bank of the river, about 12 miles from Korah Jehánábád on the high road to Cawnpur, directly under the village of Pachkowrie, which stands nearly 80 feet above it, lying amongst an immense as

semblage of kankar deposits of various ages and appearance where it is conspicuous by its size and thickness*. The bank on which these have been formed, is a portion of the first alluvium stratum.

The existence of these remains, in the position they occupy, bears me out in the assertion that one-third of the rocks of the Jumna are of a mechanical formation, and some may even possibly date their formation within the memory of the present generation, that are now some feet in thickness, and of very considerable extent; others only in embryo which may, on arriving at their full size, be able to turn the course of the river. As I imagine three feet to be the maximum, and half an inch the minimum, thickness in ordinary cases of any layer deposited in one monsoon; for at this season only does it receive any considerable addition: the product of a heavy shower or short continuance of unseasonable rain, I imagine to be very trifling; the ground being generally in so parched a state near the banks of the river (where the drainage is so rapid and complete), that an ordinary shower is absorbed, or nearly so before reaching it, producing no other effect than a run in the deepest parts of each ravine, which ceases almost as soon as the shower.

Others, however, of the same formation are entitled to be considered of proportionally great antiquity; for if my position be established, that it is to some peculiar quality of the water, combined with the other consolidating bodies, we owe not only the majority of the rocks of the Jumna, but the organic remains that have been or may be discovered, there must be some instances of both existing, whose ages must be coeval or nearly so with the river itself, as the same causes must always produce the same effects, and once produced, their positions and appearance may be altered; but the greater their age, the more combined and natural do these substances become, until their appearances present so little in consonance with conglomerates of the most ancient structure, that nothing, but an examination equally minute with that I have bestowed on the subject, can distinguish between them. Those having pretensions to antiquity are the ones occupying levels to which the river seldom now ascends, and never continues at such heights more than a few hours together, with others quite out of the reach of the present highest levels.

In the specimen before us, the form of each bone in its position in the deposit has been accurately preserved, but not in a state in the slightest degree approaching what it would have been, had they been exposed to the uninterrupted action of the water, which proves that

* The plate referred to here in the MS. is omitted.-ED.

the animal has either died in, or has been after death washed, to, the position it now occupies, on which the deposition of kankar and other substances has still continued, thus rapidly enveloping it in a crust, which accounts for the absence of petrifaction, (specs. a and b ;) for I have observed that in very few instances, where organic remains have been imbedded in the kankar deposit, has the bone materially differed from the present specimen. Instances have occurred, and still may be referred to, as existing at the present moment, whereon the deposit having attained the highest level of the river, or from the sinking of the river in its bed, it has been left at a level scarcely ever attained now at its highest rise; where the formation has necessarily ceased in these cases, those bones which with other extraneous substances help to form the upper crust or surface of the deposit, are generally from their being larger than the nodules of the kankar, but partially imbed, ded; that part which has been exposed to the action of the water, is perfectly petrified, and is rather darker than the surrounding kankar: whereas the part below the surface maintains the same colour, appearance, and quality, (fossilized, but not petrified,) as this specimen or nearly so, allowing for the difference in the size of each, (spec. 7,) and the proximity of the petrifying medium to the former, which, I consider ample proof of the rapidity of the formation ; as, if the process was slow, many instances must occur of bones or wood in a thoroughly petrified state, being met with imbedded in these masses. I have found, however, nothing approaching nearer a state of petrifaction than specimen Nos. 7, which are completely fossilized, but not petrified.

Another proof of the rapidity of the formation is, that the interior is not much more consolidated than the interior of a bed of loose nodule kankar, and the only difference between them is, that the interstices between nodules in the latter are generally filled with loamy clay, whilst here sand occupies its place.

The antiquity of this particular specimen must be very considerable, as I question if the upper parts are covered during the highest levels. The river has deepened its bed abreast of it about 25 feet, which even supposing it to have never occupied a higher level than at present, which cannot of course be now ascertained, precludes the possibility of any addition having been made to it for ages.

Numerous instances of organic remains occur in other masses of different deposits lying in all, directions round it, but the grand scale both of these remains and of the mass in which they are imbedded, completely throws them into the shade.