NO. 1873. CHARACTERS OF GIGANTOPTERI8— WHITE. 503 



a form of Tseniopteris apparently indistinguishable from that seen 

 in Zeiller's figure 12. A type of Stigmaria with very small areoles 

 very similar to that illustrated from western China is present m 

 the Kansas Permian, and has also been found by Zeiller ^ in the 

 collections from Shansi, and by Zalessky ^ in the material from 

 Jantai, near Mukden in Manchuria. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that five, and possibly eight, 

 of the species found associated with Gigantopteris in the small col- 

 lections from Hunan and Yun-Nan are present in the Permian of 

 Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. It is particularly interesting to 

 note the presence of the singular types illustrated as Pecopteris, 

 sp., Annularia maxima, and Tseniopteris, sp., in association with 

 Gigantopteris in Texas. The latter seems to be relatively abundant 

 wherever it is present. On account of the distinctlv Mesozoic aspect 

 of Gigantopteris and several of the other associated plants the flora 

 from both Yun-Nan and Hunan was regarded by Zeiller as probably 

 middle or lower Triassic, a correlation supported by the presence 

 of an upper Triassic fauna in the superior limestones, and of lower 

 Permian invertebrates in the limestones below the red sandstones 

 that underlie the plant-bearing horizon at one of the Yun-Nan 

 localities. The comparison of the Chinese floras with the material 

 now in hand from the Permian of the Texas-Kansas region shows 

 that the Chinese horizons are in the lower Permian. 



As representing other horizons which are probably not far, at 

 most, below the Permian mention may here be made of the collections 

 described by Schenk'' in the provinces of Sheng-King and Shansi; 

 by Abbado * and ZeiUer from Shansi; and by Zalessky^ from the 

 Jantai mines in Manchuria. None of these collections is large, 

 yet they have sufficient in common to show that they do not differ 

 widely in age. 



Among the more interesting species collected b}^ Von Richthofen 

 at ''Poim^-hsi-hu in Liau-tung" (Liao-tung) in Sheng-King are a 

 Neuropteris, possibly identical with N. matlieroni, Tseniopteris multi- 

 nervis, a Pterophyllum-like fragment, and the Samaropsis affinis, 

 which probably belongs to the type of gymnospermous seed known 

 as Araucarites. Several of the associated filicoid types, of cosmopoli- 

 tan aspect, from " Ponn-hsi-hu " occur in the meager collection in 

 Schenk's hands from the anthracite field of ''Tsing-Pu-Shan, " in 

 southeastern Shansi. The Tseniopteris multinervis, which in Europe is 

 unknown below the Permian, was figured by Abbado from "To- 

 Jouan-fu," where it is associated with Lepidodendron oculis-felis, a 



1 Ann. d. Mines, Paris, ser. 9, vol. 29, 1901, pi. 7, fig. 88. 



2 Verhandl. kais. russisch. mineral. Gesell., scr. 2, vol. 42, 1905, p. 399. 



3 China, vol. 4, 1SS3, p. 211. 



* Palseontographica Italica, vol. 5, 1899, p. 125. 



6 Verhandl. kals. russisch. mineral. Gesell., ser. 2, vol. 42, 1905, p. 385. 



