8 



SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



one or two rock groups, and the geology appears to them monotonous in the extreme, or they 

 have heen compelled to leave behind sections only half examined, in which the various 

 formations succeed each other too rapidly for their sequence to he determined in a hurried 

 journey. But in all cases, as Avith all discoveries in science, the observations require record 

 and comparison for their value to appear. However useless they may seem at the time, no 

 one can tell when the information may prove of the last importance. 



For details as to the route, the map and diary should he consulted. All the explanatory 

 notes in brackets and foot-notes in the subsequent pages are by myself, with the exception of 

 the foot-notes marked (S) on page 18 and 20. 



NOTE. Since the above was in type, Dr. Waagen has kindly sent to me a paper, which he has just published in the Denkschrift 

 Kais. Acad. Wiss. Wien. (Math. Naturwiss. Classe) for 1878, entitled " Ueber die Geographische Vertheilung der fossilen Organismen 

 in Indien." In this paper he points out that, although the classification of the Spiti shales is still imperfect, and further subdivision 

 may be necessary, it is clear that the great mass of these strata must be classed as Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridge and Tithonian), 

 several of the Cephalopoda having been at first wrongly identified with European forms, and being of later age than was supposed. 

 Dr. Waagen also notices that further to the westward in the Alpine Panjab, near Mari (Murree), the Gieumal sandstone or its 

 equivalent contains the Trigonits (T. ventricosa, tyc.) characteristic of the Umia (Portlandian) group in Cutch. 



According to Dr. Waagen, also, only the upper Tagling limestone, the representative of the ' Hierlatz beds ' of the Alps, should 

 be classed as Lias, the lower Tagling limestone, the equivalent of the Alpine ' Kossen beds,' being of Rhsetic age. The Para lime- 

 stone should be classed as upper triassic, and the Lilang series in part as middle triassic (Musehelkalk). Most of these relations 

 had been pointed out by Dr. Stoliczka himself. 



