Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
The Upper Gondwána (Rajmahál Series) beds near Madras are divided into two groups, the lower of which has been named from Sripermatúr, a town 25 miles west-south-west of Madras, and a well-known locality for fossil plants. The group is composed of white and pale buff-coloured shales containing plants, at least 10 feet in thickness, resting upon sandstones, grits, and micaceous sandy shales, at least 15 feet in thickness, whose base is not seen, but which probably rest on the gneiss. Silicified wood occurs in some of the gritty beds. The other fossils occur in the shales, and consist of plant and animal remains. The latter are poor, and comprise two or three indeterminable species of ammonites and several lamellibranch bivalves.