from Northern China. 173 
Pinhsu-hoo, in the southern peninsula of Mantchuria, on the 
east side of the Gulf of Liantung, and about one hundred 
miles north-east of the open port of Niu-chwang. I am told 
that at times there are over 1200 Chinamen engaged in the 
district in mining and transporting coal. This coal-field has 
long been known to foreigners through the Chinese as a pos- 
sible source of workabie coal. As long ago as 1863 Prof. 
Pumpelly suggested that the Liantung coals should be ex- 
amined by American or European experts before opening the 
mines at Chaitang, which he had personally visited and re- 
ported upon favourably. 
“So tar as I know, no geologist has visited the district 
except Baron v. Richthofen, who regarded the formation as 
of Paleozoic age, although, I believe, he found no fossils. 
“¢ From my own observations while travelling through the 
provinces of Chihte and Shansi, and from various sources of 
mformation, I believe by far the greater part of the coal-basins 
of North China are of Paleozoic age, although the well-known 
districts west and north-west of Pekin have been shown to be 
of Mesozoic age. | 
“The estimates of the great area and value of the coal 
and iron deposits of North China, which have been made by 
Prof. Pumpelly and Baron Richthofen, are, I think, by no 
means unwarranted. 
“There can be no question but that the coal and iron of 
China will prove to be of immense value in the material deve- 
lopment of the country so soon as she decides to adopt rail- 
ways and foreign engineering methods.” 
On unpacking the collection I discovered that the plants 
were of Carboniferous age, and that most of them belonged to 
species common in the rocks of Kurope and North America. 
Of the ten species which can be distinguished, one is a 
Pecopteris too imperfect for determination (probably P. unita, 
Bret.), and two others, a Lonchopteris and an Archeopteris, 
present slight differences from their closely-allied representa- 
tives in Kurope and America. ‘The other seven are undistin- 
guishable from what may be considered as the most charac- 
teristic plants of our Coal-measures. 
The complete list of species is as follows :— 
Annularia longifolia, Brgt. 
Sphenophyllum oblongifolium, Germar. 
Calamites Suckowt, Bret. 
Cordaites borassifolius, Ung. 
Lepidodendron cbovatum, Sternb. 
