the present day, have proved to be so rich in the exuvia of the now extinct forms which once inhabited these countries. Whether this last series occurs also on the northern side, is a point for future investigation; but as fossil bones are sometimes brought down by native travellers from the Tartar hills beyond Almorah, it would seem that similar phenomena are to be expected there.

The inclined position both of the secondary and tertiary series, is clearly attributable to the outbreak of the primary rocks from beneath or through them and furnishes to the inquiring mind, a sure and beautiful guide by which the period when these vast mountain ranges first rose upwards to adorn our earth, may be satisfactorily and positively determined. The conclusion, therefore, to be drawn from the facts observable in these strata, are all strictly in accordance with the rules of geological reasoning, and I shall therefore now bring the subject to a close, by endeavouring to show the reasoning and existing facts to be in unison, and thus fix the period to which must be referred the stupendous and never-fading monuments of Almighty power, exhibited in the vast upheavements of the Himalyan range.

It is a fact accepted and admitted by geology as indisputable, that where one series of rocks having a horizontal position is found to rest upon another whose strata are inclined, it amounts to positive certainty, that the deposition of the former took place subsequent to the upheaving of the latter; and vice versâ, where both series are found, the one resting on the other at high angles with the horizon, that the deposition of the superior strata took place previous to the upheavement of those by which they are supported.

Resting on the primary rocks of the Snowy Range, we find on either side the strata of the secondary series thrown into an inclined position by the upheavement of the granite and its usual accompaniments of gneiss and mica slates, proving by their inclined position, according to the above reasoning, that they were deposited previous to the outburst of the former through them. Again we perceive, that resting on the secondary rocks the tertiary or diluvial strata of the Siwalik range have also an inclined position, consequent on the upheavement of the primary and secondary series, and therefore, that they too, by a parity of reasoning, were deposited previous to the upheavement of the two former.

Now the tertiary or diluvial strata containing the fossil exuviæ of extinct terrestrial Mammalia are clearly attributable to the effects of the last great revolution which our earth has undergone, and consequently, we derive from the phenomena, presented to our notice in the various formations of the Himalyan mountains, sure and decided data for determining the period of

Imaginery Section of the Humatya, showing how the upheavement of the Primary Strata at 1. 1. 1. would cause the inclined position of the secondary Strata ar 2. 2. at 3.- 4 Alluvium of the Plains...

and the Tertiary deposits.

their first upheavement, which period the facts adduced enable us to assign to the first subsidence of the waters of the Moasic deluge.—(See plate) FIG. 9.)

We may suppose, therefore, that when the ocean had been permitted to transgress its bounds, and had again enveloped the earth as in the time before the third creative day, or separation of land and water; and had by its devastating effects fulfilled to the utmost the dreadful doom assigned to all organised creation, the vast and imposing ranges of the Himalya and other mountains were caused to burst upwards by volcanic agents from below, as a means of throwing back the waters from the earth into those bounds appointed to receive them, and also to furnish, by their subsequent accumulations of everlasting snows, a never-failing reservoir from which the rivers of the plains were to be supplied with waters to fertilize the soil; which plains, had the mountains been of inferior elevation, would for ever have remained barren and desolate, except during the prevalence of the periodical monsoon; for it is apparent, that in the hot climates of the eastern world, no snows could have rested upon mountains of a lesser altitude sufficiently long to afford a never-failing supply of waters for irrigation.

Thus, even in the ordering of a mountain range, and the furnishing of wintery snows, is the wisdom and unvarying goodness of the Great First Cause, made manifest to the minds of his inquiring creatures.

To enter at length into the means by which these revolutions took place, and the reasons why they were allowed, belongs more properly to a system or theory of geology than to a paper professing to be merely an outline of the geological formations of a limited district.

I shall, therefore, for the present, leave the question in this imperfect form with less regret, since I purpose ere long, (should circumstances befriend me,) to lay before the Society and the Public a theory, which I would fain believe worthy of their most serious and attentive consideration.

CANDAHAR,

19th July, 1840.

On the two wild species of Sheep inhabiting the Himalayan region, with some brief remarks on the craniological character of Ovis, and its allies.-By B. H. HODGSON, ESQ. Resident at the Court of Nepal. The great paucity of unquestionably wild species of the genus Ovis now found throughout the habitable globe, is a fact that has been employed to cast a speculative doubt upon my announcement (Catalogue of 1832 and 1838,) of two species in the single region of the Himalaya; and the circumstance of my not having been able therefore to give as full and satisfactory an account of the second species as I long ago gave of the first, (see Journal for September, 1835,) from living specimens, has tended to confirm the above mentioned doubt. I am still unpossessed of similar valuable materials for the illusrtation of this second species, having never been able to procure the animal alive, nor even to obtain a perfect suite of the spoils of a grown male. I have horns, however, of the mature ram, and sculls and skins of others, varying from one to two years in age; and from these, not inadequate materials, I purpose now to furnish a specific character of the Ammonlike, as well as (for the sake of comparison,) of the Musmon-like animal, together with craniological sketches and details relative to both; such as will suffice, I hope, to place beyond further question, the existence of two entirely distinct, new, and peculiar breeds of Sheep in a state of nature in the Himalaya; where indeed, from the unparalleled elevation and extent of the mountains, it need be no rational matter of surprise that they exist.

Ovis Ammonoides, Nob.-Large wild sheep, with massive strictly trigonal sub-compressed horns, deeper than broad at the base, presenting a flat surface vertically to the front, and cultrated edge beneath, inserted not in contact on the crest of the frontals, remote from the orbits, directed backwards and outwards with a bold circular sweep: the flattened points being again subrecurved outwards and the whole surface covered with numerous heavy complete wrinkles: the forehead flat and broad: the nose scarcely arched, and much attenuated to a fine small muzzle: the ears short, pointed, and striated: the tail short and deerlike, and the limbs fine and elevated: the vesture composed of close, thick, more or less porrect, brittle piles of medial uniform length, concealing a scanty fleece: no beard nor mane general colour dull slaty