ON THE PAGODA STONE OF THE CHINESE. 395 



ray reach, and have failed to find any furtlier 

 reference to these fossils. Nothing definite appears 

 to have been known of the locality where they 

 were obtained. They must also be extremely rare, 

 as there api)ears to be no specimen in the Edinburgh 

 Museum, and it was only the other day that a small 

 one was presented to the University Museum here. 



The two fine specimens which I have the pleasure 

 of exhibiting were presented to my cousin, Mr. W. L. 

 Buchanan, the larger by the Rev. George Cockburn,, 

 and the other by the Rev. Andrew Dowsley, 

 Missionaries of the Church of Scotland, stationed 

 at I'chang, in Central China. 



I'chang, in the province of Hupeh, was opened as- 

 a treaty port after the murder of Mr. Margarey in 

 1875. It is situated on the left or north bank of 

 the Yang-tse-kiang, about 1,000 miles, in round 

 numbers, from the mouth of the river, and about 

 400 miles above Hankow, which our merchaiit 

 vessels reach. Small steamboats i>ly regularly 

 between Hankow and I'chang. 



The town is built uj)on a ledge of conglomerate,, 

 the matrix of Avhich is light grey cemented with 

 lime. Mr. Cockburn, to whom I am indebted for 

 his obliging replies to my inquiries respecting these 

 fossils, considers this to be of recent formation, a& 

 it lies above the red conglomerate which is found 

 on the opposite bank of the river. This red con- 

 glomerate is a pudding-stone, like the old red sand- 

 stone of our oAvn coasts. 



In summer the river is here rather more than a. 

 mile in width,* with a current running often with 

 a velocity of seven knots, and the anchorage for 

 vessels is close to the town; but in winter this is 

 laid bare as an extensive sandflat, on which booths 

 are erected and business of all kinds carried on. 

 The river is then only half a mile wide at its lowest 

 level, and flows close by the south bank at a rate 



* A mile and a half.— A. Little, Journal of the North China. 

 Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1888. 



