and character as those of Perim. (I may mention that at Gossnath Point the fine sandstone is quarried, of which the magnificent Jaina temples at Palitána are constructed.)

The separation may have taken place either through the action of the sea, which is unusually severe in the Gulf of Cambay, or else under the influence of one of those terrific earthquakes so frequent in that region. Major Fulljames, in the same notice in which he communicates the discoveries above referred to, concludes by saying "This fact ascertained (ie. that the formations of Perim and the main land are identical in appearance and general character), settles the question of whether Perim was originally a part of the continent, and it only remains to prove how the separation has taken place. My opinion is, that it has been effected by the force of the current during the ebb tides and the swell of the monsoon."

DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS IN PERIM.

Dr. Lush was the first to discover that fossils existed in Perim Island. He mentions the fact in a short account of the geology of the Northern Konkan, which appeared in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, in 1836; at the same time he seems to have been ignorant of the true nature and value of his discoveries, as appears from the following letter from Baron Hügel, of Bombay, communicated to the same Journal. Addressing the secretary, he

says

"You will receive shortly a few fossil bones from Perim Island, in the Cambay Gulf-Dr. Lush has the merit to have found them, but without exploring them at all. I had no time to go over from Surat where Dr. Lush shewed me them. I requested him to send them to you through Mr. Walker. One is an imperfect bone of a Mastodon

or elephant, another the head of a boar unknown, and one belonging, I think, to a "rongeur;' but what induces me particularly to wish them at Calcutta, is, that there is a horn in its matrix, which, connected as these fossils must be with those of the Nerbudda, might belong to that species of bos mentioned in your Journal; it is decidedly not a buffalo. I was so anxious to reach Bombay that I could not possibly go to Perim myself. I did, however, manage to send a boat over, and I received yesterday forty-one pieces of fossil bones, the greater part belonging to the "Mastodon latidens," of which the teeth, in a perfect state, did not leave any doubt; some of the bones are of immense size-one fractured piece of the tusk measuring from the centre 51, which gives 10 inches diameter, or 34 inches in circumference; some of them are in the same hard matrix you will see imbedding the horn, some evidently rolled by the sea. There are some curious teeth among the fragments I possess, and two triangular-shaped pieces similar to the horn of a rhinoceros; the teeth are, however, too large to belong to that animal. I may perhaps send the most curious specimens round to you; but I am at this moment too much pleased with my discovery to part with them. It appears that the island abounds with the fossils, and it is a clear proof that the Nerbudda must have found only lately its way to the Cambay Gulf, or that some revolution must have separated the little island from Kattiawár. Having no opportunity to leave this for either Persia or the Cape, I may still perhaps be able to go to Perim and Gogo to trace the fossils on the mainland of the peninsula."

I may remark, that the conglomerates of the valley of the Nerbudda, which were so thoroughly examined by Spilsbury, and in which remains of Elephas, Hippopotamus, Equus, and Bos have been discovered, are now

proved to belong to a later age than the Tertiaries of Perim, viz., the Pliocene. The fossils of that district, therefore, have no connection with the ones in question, as Baron Hügel supposed.*

Major Fulljames was the next to visit the island, and it is to him we are indebted for by far the greatest amount of information we possess, both as to its physical features and geological character. In a letter published in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal," he gives a full description of the place. "On my arrival in this part of the country, in the month of April, I heard a report that some bones, turned into stones, as the natives called them, had been discovered on the Island of Perim, in the Gulf of Cambay, and in latitude 21° 29'. I lost no time in going there to see if the report of fossil remains was correct, and, although I do not pretend to be a geologist, or to know much about fossil osteology, still I consider myself most amply repaid by my first visit to the island, for I obtained a most perfect specimen of the teeth of the mastodon; one also, I think, belongs to the palæotherium; the femur vertebræ, and many other bones belonging to mammiferous animals now extinct." Concluding, he sums up by saying "I will here enumerate the varieties of specimens of fossil remains which I think have been found. Teeth of mammoth, Mastodon, Palæotherium, Hippopotamus or Rhinoceros, and a number of other large bones, one shell in siliceous sandstone, and the half of a deer's foot."

*

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*

*

From this time until 1845 nothing further was written or published on the subject of Perim fossils. In the month of June in that year, Mr. Albemarle Bettington, of the Bombay Civil Service, communicated to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, an account The bone beds of Pyetun and Rakasbowen, in the Deccan, are of a Pliocene + Vol v p. 289.

age also.

of the cranium of some gigantic ruminant discovered by himself when on a visit to the island, and which he considered to be an entirely new genus. During the same year Dr. Hugh Falconer, the greatest authority of the day on Indian palæontology, having had occasion to examine the collections of Perim fossils in the British Museum and the Museum of the Geological Society, with reference to that magnificent work on the fossil fauna of Northern India, on which Colonel Cautley and himself were engaged, the Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, gave to the world his very valuable memoir on some new forms and genera from that locality.*

The fossils of Perim are intended to be described in the Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis. The publication of this serial was commenced some twelve years ago; ten numbers of the plates appeared in quick succession, but only one of the letter-press. I am glad to say that this grand undertaking has been resumed after so long a pause, and we may expect soon to see it completed in the same masterly style in which it was begun.

If we take into consideration the small extent of Perim, I think there is no locality in the world which has furnished so many interesting remains of those beings which, during the second division of the Tertiary epoch, roamed masters of the earth.

Among the pachydermata, parts of that most singular of the class, the Deinotherium, have been detected. Dr. Falconer has the honour of being the first to discover that this extraordinary animal, which hitherto was supposed to be confined to Europe-its remains having been found only in Germany and France-once wallowed in the swamps and lakes of primæval India. In the memoir to which I have before alluded, he gives a long history of his examination of part of a molar tooth and a frag

"Journal of the Geological Society," vol. i. p. 356.

ment of a jaw belonging to this animal, which, together with several other specimens found in Perim, had been presented to the British Museum by Miss Pepper. He instituted a comparison between these and corresponding portions of the Dinotherium giganteum of Kaup, and arrived at the conclusion that they were specifically distinct, and that the Perim one was larger than the giganteum and more closely allied to the mastodons. He has designated it Deinotherium Indicum.

Remains of two species of mastodon have, I believe, been recognised in the fossil fauna of Perim, one entirely peculiar to the locality-Mastodon Perimensis-the other, Mastodon latidens. Various parts of the hippopotamus have been discovered, but whether of the hexaprotodon or tetraprotodon it is impossible to say, and no distinct. species has as yet been established. A separate form of rhinoceros has been detected, to which the specific title of Perimensis has been given by Falconer and Cautley. Remains of Sus hysudricus and of the hippotherium have also been discovered.

Among the ruminantia there is a very remarkable and interesting genus, which has been found in no other place. In form and appearance it must have approached most nearly to the Sivatherium-it also seems to have been allied to the giraffe. Major Fulljames sent home teeth and fragments of the jaws in the collection which he presented to the Geological Society. They were examined by Dr. Falconer, who at once recognized their generic distinctness, and applied to them the title of Bramatherium, thereby marking its relationship to the great Sivatherium of the Siválik Hills.

Camelopardalis Sivalensis has been placed by Dr. Falconer, too, on the list of the fossil Fauna of Perim. Several species of antelope and bos have been discovered and established. Among the Reptilia we find that gigantic