PLATE I. 



Tig. 1. — View southwards from Tsaosbiér (PI. II.) toward the low granitic water-slisd 

 of tlie Nie a-yii -lying pass, wliicli separates the waters of two mighty Asiatic 

 rivers ; the rivulet running toward us is the upper course of the Hui-fa river, 

 a tributary of the Kirin-ula, which ultimately joins the great Amur ; while 

 the valley beyond the water-parting is the source of the Hun-ho, which runs 

 south westwards to meet the well-known Liao-ho. The plain in the fore- 

 ground is an elevated granite peneplain of 490 ;//, flankeJl on the east (left) 

 by an overlying mesa {Chanii-kani/) of common basalt, 150 m. thick, and 

 bounded on the west by denuded hills of the nepheline-basalt which is the 

 subject of the present paper. (Page 6.) 



Tig. 2. — Nepheline-basalt from Tsaoshièr, magnified 260 diameters, set in with a large 

 anhedron of olivine (on the left) and a basal hexagonal section of nepheline 

 with zonally arranged prismoids of augite. The groundmass is a plexus of 

 short prisms of nephehne, prismoids of augite, and minute speck-like crystals 

 and clumps of titanomagnetite, floating on sporadic brown patches (on the 

 left of the hexagonal section of nepheline) of basaltic base. (Pages 9-10.) 



Fig. 3. — The same, magnified 130 diameters, showing the general appearance of the 

 diverse, seriate fabric of the rock under weak powers. (Pages 9 and 11.) 



