ic Soc. of Bombay_, vol. v, p.
614), studied and described certain trunks of palm-trees, whose
silicified remains are found imbedded in the soft intertrappean mud-
beds near Sagar. . . . The trees are imbedded in a layer of
calcareous black earth, which formed the surface soil in which they
grew; this soil rests on, and was made up of the disintegration of, a
layer of basalt. It is covered over by another and similar layer of
the same rock near where the trees occur. . . . The palm-trees, now
found fossilized, grew in the soil, which, in the condition of a
black calcareous earthy bed, we now find lying round their prostrate
stems. They fell (from whatever cause), and lay until their
silicification was complete. A slight depression of the surface, or
some local or accidental check of some drainage-course, or any other
similar and trivial cause, may have laid them under water. The
process of silicification proceeded gradually but steadily, and after
they had there, in lapse of ages, become lapidified, the next
outburst of volcanic matter overwhelmed them, broke them, partially
enveloped, and bruised them, until long subsequent denudation once
more brought them to light' (J. G. Medlicott, in _Memoirs of the
Geological Survey of India_, vol. ii. Part II, pp. 200, 203, 204,
205, 216, as quoted in _C. P. Gazetteer_ (1870), p. 435). The
intertrappean fossils are all those of organisms which would occur in
shallow fresh-water lakes or marshy ground.

Besides the author's friend and relative, Dr. H. H. Spry, Dr.
Spilsbury contributed papers on the Nerbudda fossils to vols. iii,
vi, viii, ix, x, and xiii of the _J.A.S.B._ Other writers also have
treated of the subject, but it appears to be by no means fully worked
out. James Prinsep, to whom no topic came amiss, discussed the
Jubbulpore fossil bones in the volume in which Dr. Spry's paper
appeared. Dr. Spry was the author of a work entitled _Modern India:
with Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindustan_ (2
vols. 8vo, 1838). He became F.R.S.

CHAPTER 15

Legend of the Sagar Lake--Paralysis from eating the Grain of the
_Lathyrus sativus_.

The cantonments of Sagar are about two miles from the city and
occupied by three regiments of native infantry, one of local horse,
and a company of European artillery.[1] The city occupies two sides
of one of the most beautiful lakes of India, formed by a wall which
unites two sandstone hills on the north side. The