302 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 



in showing their alien character to those of even western America. While 

 Schwagcrina is widely distributed over the far Western States, stromatopo- 

 roid corals and brachiopods of the genus Hemiptychina are thus far unknown 

 this side of the Pacific. Indeed, a paleontologist approaching these faunas 

 with a knowledge only of the American ones, and finding there a Michelinia 

 much resembling a species of Favosites, a stromatoporoid coral, a Spirifcr 

 having the general aspect of certain Silurian forms (a type certainly exceed- 

 ingly rare in the Upper Carboniferous, even if it has elsewhere been found at 

 all at that horizon), conjoined with a practically complete absence of produc- 

 toid shells, might, on a superficial examination, be widely misled as to their 

 real age, although such a misapprehension could not survive a deeper study. 



Kayser thought he saw in his fossils from Lo-ping a resemblance to our 

 American Pennsylvanian fauna, but more critical studies of both have gone 

 far to weaken this supposed relationship. But certain Chinese faunas con- 

 cerned in this report appear to show resemblances to the Coal Measures 

 faunas of the United States. This resemblance, manifested especially in lots 

 7, 17, 21, and 69, is probably produced by the small number of the species 

 obtained and by the presence of forms which have a long range and a wide 

 distribution. Whether this apparent resemblance has any real significance 

 must be determined by a better knowledge of the Chinese faunas. 



As the presence in the Wu-shan limestone of shells belonging to the fora- 

 miniferal genus Schwagerina contains a certain suggestion that it represents 

 Tschernyschew's Schwagerina zone of the Russian series, which underlies the 

 typical Permian, there might in this fact be found some evidence for assigning 

 the K'ui-chou series, which overlies the Wu-shan limestone, to the Permian. 

 Upon this point the fauna thus far obtained from the K'ui-chou series (lot 5) 

 is almost noncommittal. While the collection from this series is not small, 

 it comprises, aside from crinoidal fragments, only three species a terebratu- 

 loid, a pectinoid, and an indeterminable pelecypod. The terebratuloid is 

 present in profusion, and the fact that the limited fauna is not due to scarcity 

 of life or scantiness of collecting, as in some instances, lends more significance 

 than would otherwise be the case to the faunal change indicated below this 

 series. A correlation of the Wu-shan limestone with the Upper Carbonif- 

 erous of Russia, except in a general way, would, however, be premature. In 

 Russia the Schwagerina zone is found at the top of the section, while in the 

 Wu-shan limestone the known occurrence of the genus is at the base. 



It remains to speak of the fauna represented in lots 6, 8, and 9, occurring 

 at the base of the upper Paleozoic section. The matrix in this material is a 

 tough arenaceous limestone. The fossils are mostly small, always exfoliated, 

 very difficult to uncover when only partially exposed, and more or less strongly 

 altered in microscopic structure. Their investigation has been attended 

 with much difficulty, and the conclusions to which it leads are consequently 

 lacking in finality. This fauna and that from the base of the overlying 

 Wu-shan limestone are sufficiently well known to give considerable impor- 



