Himalayan paleontological database polluted by recycling and other anomalies: reply

V. J. Gupta's attempted rebuttal of our article in the Journal of the Geological Society of India (Talent et al. 1989) and other responses (Gupta, 1989, 1990a) are agglomerations of prevarication, irrelevancy, mendacity, non-sequiturs, and allegations of conspiracy. Strong words, but we must state the facts as they are. Accusation denied Gupta asserts that Talent has spearheaded a tirade against him 'without looking at the material, without visiting and working in the areas under discussion and basing all allegations/observations from the published literature'. Remarkably similar assertions have been made by Gupta's close friend and supporter, J. B. Waterhouse (I989, 1990); points Waterhouse has attempted to make have been addressed elsewhere (Talent, 1990a, 1990b).

To make the above statement, Gupta must have ignored the initial monograph on the problem (Talent et al. 1988), to have never checked the resthouse registers in, inter alia, flundwara and Kokarnag (Kashmir), Koksar and Keylong (Lahaul), Dogadda (Garhwal), and Kaja (Spiti), nor the guest register of the 'Sunbeam ~ houseboat on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, the base for field investigations in the Vale ,of Kashmir by Talent et al. in 1971, or the Panorama Hotel in Kathmandu. He must have forgotten that Talent and five of his colleagues (P. J. Conaghan, R. K. Goe], P. A. JeU, N. G. K. Nair and C. McA. Powell) visited Chandigarh on their return from Kashmir in 1971 and had discussions with him and a number of his colleagues. On a number of occasions Talent has examined such of Gupta's, collections as are on display in the museum of the Geology Department of Panjab University (Talent, 1990a, p. 405). Gupta has had ample time to make a positivedemonstration of good faith such as insisting on leading an expedition to some of his sites or to a selection of dubious sites in Nepal and the Lesser Himalaya accessible at all seasons.