1896.] 223 [Smith. 



mountain, 1000 feet of shale, in which no fossils were sought for, lie 

 above the thin layer from which the entire collection was taken ; thus 

 the chances of fiudiug true Permian beds in that region are verj' good. 



Relations to the Texas Upper Carboniferous. 



The most philosophical presentation of the Permian problem in 

 America has been given by Dr. C. A. White.* He finds the fauna of 

 tlie upper Paleozoic beds of northern Texas, discovered by Prof. W. 

 F. Cummins, to be analogous to that of the Fusulina Limestone of 

 Sicily, the Artinsk stage of Russia, and the upper Productus Limestone 

 of the Salt Range in India. These strata all show that peculiar com- 

 mingling of ordinary Coal Measure fossils with ammonite genera, such 

 as Popanoceras, Medlicottia and Waagenoecras, which seems to be char- 

 acteristic of open sea facies of the Permian. 



None of the characteristic ammonite genera were found in the 

 xVrkansas region, but nearly every fossil found in these Coal Measures 

 was also found in Texas. And in the Texas Permian nearly all the 

 species excepting the ammonites were found in the underlying Upper 

 Coal Measures. This makes the analogy between the Upper Coal 

 Measures of the two regions very strong. 



Nearly all these fossils are also found in Illinois, Iowa, etc., in beds 

 that have never been thought to be other than Coal Measures. 



"We are, therefore, safe in concluding that while some of the beds in 

 western Arkansas are very high up in the Coal Measures, none that be- 

 long above them are as yet certainly known, and the Poteau mountain 

 syncline, across the line in Indian Territory, is the only place where 

 there is any likelihood of finding Permian deposits. These beds may 

 turn out to be the equivalents of the Wichita division of the Texas 

 Permian, which, as Prof. W. F. Cummins has told the writer, contains 

 the exact fauna of his Albany division. The Albany beds were for- 

 merly thought to be Coal Measures ; and Prof. Cummins' work in de- 

 termining them by paleontology as well as stratigraphy to be the 

 equivalents of the Wichita division will be of great help in the study of 

 the doubtful so-called uppermost Coal Measure strata all over the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley. Many of these strata are very probably the homotaxial 

 equivalents of the Albany division, and of the Artinsk stage of the Ural 

 mountain region. 



Comparison with Foreign Upper Carboniferous. 



T/ie Lo-piiKj Fauna of China. 



The descriptions of the fauna of this Lo-ping district of China by 

 Prof. E. Kayserf throw great light on the relations of American Car- 

 boniferous faunas to those of Asia. Near Lo-ping, in eastern China, are 



* Bulletin 77, V. .S. Geol. Siu-vey. 

 t Richtofen's China, Vol. iv. 



