my acquaintance with the situations in which they are found. The portion of the subjoined note in which the fossils are assigned to different parts of the skeletons of various animals, has been derived from better authority than I can pretend to in such questions. From what has been obtained in the last year or two, it seems that fossils in great abundance are lodged in the bed of the river. They have in previous years of the works been procured in smaller quantities, from rocks or shoals differing in nature from those of the last season, having been removed in the first periods. One cause of so many having been of late discovered has been the presence of intelligent European overseers, whose curiosity has been excited by remains which were matter of indifference to the natives. It is to be regretted, however, that the attention of the men was not directed earlier to the preservation of these

fossils.

"I became acquainted with their discovery in such quantities, and of such dimensions, only after an absence from the spot, during which the excavation had been completed, and could then collect merely a few of the fragments, which an interest in the subject on the part of some of the sergeants had induced them to select. Much however has been lost, and as seen in the list, a small piece only was kept of the shoulder blade of an elephant, (No. 3,) described as very perfect, but which unfortunately, with the rest of the mass removed from the shoal, was thrown into the water of a deep channel. I have lately got some more fossils, and in the course of the cold season, I shall have an opportunity of visiting some, of the existence of which in the banks of the river I have just had information, and which (if the account I have received be correct) would seem to prove that the process of petrifaction is still active."

Captain SMITH has divided his notices under three heads, which we here insert in the same order, adding the characters of the rocks, and in some places their analysis, from the specimens presented to the Society. I.-Notes with Explanatory Sketches on a Description of Kankar found

in Slabs in part of the bank of the Jamna. (Plate XXIII.)

A description of flag, composed of sand coarsely but strongly cemented, in thin slabs, horizontally disposed, is found in considerable quantities at a short distance from Kárímkhán, near Oreyah, on the Jamna. The situations from which it is usually dug are shown distinctly in the accompanying sketches, with the references and notes; but the flag is not confined to the banks of the river, (Sketches Ist and 5th,) being raised as well from sand-banks far out towards the centre of the bed of the stratum.

It is excavated principally by the boat and ghat men, or the villagers of the Mallah class, on the immediate spot; and the search for it, and the mode of raising it, is simple.

In the hot months, when the river is low, these men observe what parts of the bank have been left by the river (Sketch 1st) so bare of sand, or deposits of mud, as to allow of a probability of the flags being reached without much labour in the removal of the superincumbent body. They are, from the excavations in former years, acquainted with the spots in which they may expect to find the flags, and the upper mass being cleared away, if the flags are reached, the excavation is carried on as long as the easy slope of the bank allows of its being profitable. It is generally from about the bottom of the bank, at the level of the lowest fall of the river in the dry months, that the flags are taken, and they are traced at all heights from this level up to 20 or 25 feet above it, but rarely or never higher. Below this lowest level, they are found in depths as great as the water has allowed of the excava tion being prosecuted in, but that is not more than 4 or 5 feet. wards the centre of the river they are raised from similar depths below the surface (Sketch 4th) from a space on which sand settles annually over a greater or less extent. Whenever any part is perceived free of sand, and the flags felt at the bottom of the water clear of that obstruction, they are detached by common iron implements, and raised. As is the case near the shore, the depths from which they are lifted do not exceed 4 or 5 feet. In raising the flags, it is usual to cut them across, (Sketch 2nd,) to reduce them to manageable dimensions, and as they are sometimes connected with each other at the edges, they are there too cut asunder. They are generally taken out in lengths of from 2 to 4 feet, the breadth varying from 1 to 2 feet.

To

Long round pieces are sometimes found between the flat slabs, (Sketch 3,) that is of course when the latter are not so close as to be connected. These round pieces are always smooth, never knotted, at least as those common on the surface of the kankar banks and shoals usually are. The round are always met within the horizontal line between the flat pieces, never above or below them, not even when there are double or treble strata of slabs. The directions of the lateral divisions of the slabs, as also of the grooves which channel the surfaces of both the flat and round pieces, is stated to correspond nearly with that of the present course of the river. These flags are said to harden on exposure to the air. It is unusual to find, in other parts of the bank, fine sand, similar to that of the sand strata immediately adjoining the

flags, and to that of flags themselves*. It seems to be of a kind peculiar to this bank of the river, about the lowest level. Cursory observation at least does not discover it elsewhere. It is darker and greyer, but otherwise not unlike the fine sand of the superficial beds. Flags, it is asserted by the people, are never found on the sites of former excavations, that is, they believe them to be old deposits, and have no expectation of discovering fresh formations in the spots from which they have once before raised the layers. Projecting eaves from the roofs and windows of the native pakka houses are in this neighbourhood very generally constructed with these flags. It seems to be the use to which exclusively they are applied, and they are conveyed for it to Calpí and other towns in the vicinity, where they are sold at a few rupees a hundred.

Similar flags to these may very possibly exist on other parts of the bank of the river, but they have never been observed or heard of except at this place, and here but in one bank of about half mile in length, and in the bed of the river opposite to it. Although, as shewn in Sketch 5, this is now the main bank of the river, it has not always been so. At some very remote period, the Jamna must have ran along the foot of the higher plain on which Kentra stands, and which line, with the relative distances and elevations, is seen on the small sketch.

Sketch 1.

a.

References to the Sketches.

Sand in strata, alternating in thicknesses of the flags.

b. Lowest level of the river.

k. Cess-pool for baling out the water.

c. First stratum of flags.

d. Intervening layer of sand, fine, of the same color and description apparently as that in the composition of the flags, varying in thickness from 6 in. to 1 feet. Second stratum of flags.

e.

f. Second intervening layer of sand.

g. Third stratum of flags.

From 1 to 5, strata of flags and intervening sand are found.

Sketch 2. The slabs in their natural position, in the sand or the river. - Cuts made by the people to detach them.

Sketch 3. Plan and section shewing the round pieces of kankar (a) found lying between the flat slabs (bb).

Sketch 4. The method of obtaining the kankar from the sand-beds towards the centre of the river.

A. One of the men separating the pieces by a sharpened crow-bar.

B. Another lifting up the detached pieces from the bottom.

The composition of the flag kankar analysed by me was as follows:

Carbonate of lime,

Fine sand,..

...