lanford proved the theory to be untenable,
there being 'clear and unmistakable evidence that the traps were in
great part of sub-aerial formation', The intercalation of sedimentary
beds with fresh-water fossils is conclusive proof that the lava-flows
associated with such beds cannot be submarine. The hypothesis that
the lower beds of traps were poured out in a vast, but shallow,
freshwater lake extending throughout the area over which the inter-
trappean limestone formation extends appears to be extremely
improbable. The lava seems to have been poured, during a long
succession of ages, over a land surface, uneven and broken in parts,
'with intervals of rest sufficient for lakes, stocked with fresh-
water mollusca, to form on the cold surfaces of several of the lava-
flows' (Holland, in _I.G._ (1907), i. 88). A great tract of the
volcanic region appears to have remained almost undisturbed to the
present day, affected by sub-aerial erosion alone. The geological
horizon of the Deccan trap cannot be precisely defined, but is now
vaguely stated as 'the close of the cretaceous period'. The 'steps',
or conspicuous terraces, traceable on the hill-sides for great
distances, are explained as being 'due to the outcrop of the harder
basaltic strata, or of those beds which resist best the
disintegrating influences of exposure'.

The general horizontality of the Deccan trap over an area of not less
than 200,000 square miles, and the absence of volcanic hills of the
usual conical form, are difficulties which have caused much
discussion. Some of the 'old volcanic vents' appear to have existed
near Poona and Mahableshwar. The entire area has been subjected to
sub-aerial denudation on a gigantic scale, which explains the
occurrence of the basalt as the caps of isolated hills. Much further
investigation is required to clear up details (_Manual of the Geology
of India_, ed. 1, Part I, chap. 13)

14. The author took charge of the Jubbulpore District in March 1828.

15. The fossiliferous beds near Jubbulpore, described in the text,
seem to belong to the group now classed as the Lameta beds. The bones
of a large dinosaurian reptile (_Titanosaurus indicus_) have been
identified (_I.G._, 1907, vol. i, p. 88).

16. 'Many years ago Dr. Spry (_Note on the Fossil Palms and Shells
lately discovered on the Table-Land of Sagar in Central India_, in
_J.A.S.B._ for 1833, vol. ii, p. 639) and, subsequently to him,
Captain Nicholls (_Journal of Asiat