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116 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1917. 
geography of the Artinskian was also very similar to ‘that of the 
Uralian. Lithologically the predominance in the Artinskian of gray 
sandstones and bituminous beds over red beds (which occur occasionally, 
as at Brives in 8.W. France) indicates formation under Carboniferous 
rather than Permian climatic conditions. The Artinskian Brachiopods 
include P. cora, P. punctatus, P. semireticulatus, &e., which are 
Carboniferous species. De Lapparent has stated the general affinity 
of the Artinskian ammonites in his remark that they have intimate 
relations with those of the Uralian. The Artinskian does not seem 
entitled to rank as a distinct geological series. It may be merged in 
the Uralian. If so, the Permian consists of two series, which is 
consistent with its old name of Dyas. 
Taking, then, the Permian and Carboniferous systems of Hurope as 
divisible into five series, the question is, Can the Australian deposits be 
correlated with them ? 
The Australian Carboniferous-Permian sequence begins with the 
Lepidodendron beds, which are admittedly Lower Carboniferous. 
Above them is a great unconformity, above which in New South Wales 
occurs the following succession : 
Upper Coal Measures, 
Dempsey series. 
Middle or Tomago Coal Measures. 
Upper Marine series. 
Lower Coal Measures. 
Lower Marine series. 
The fauna of the two Marine series seems essentially Uralian. ‘Thus 
Cephalopoda usually give very reliable evidence as to correlation. 
Unfortunately the New South Wales Marine series are very poor in 
Cephalopods, but they have yielded two. The Actinoceras has been 
identified as A. striatum, a British Lower Carboniferous species; the 
specific identification is, however, doubtful, but Foord and Crick accept 
it as an Actinoceras, a genus which has a wide Paleozoic range but 
does not occur in the Permian. ‘This fossil is in favour of an age not 
later than Carboniferous. The other Cephalopod, Agathiceras micro- 
phyllum, comes from the Upper Marine series ; it is recognised as closely 
related to Agathiceras uralicwm, which, according to Tschernichef, is a 
Uralian but not a Permian species. Mr. Crick has kindly looked up _ 
A. microphyllum again and regards it as of Uralian affinities. 
The Brachiopods of the two Marine series are abundant. They 
also appear of Carboniferous affinities. Two of the most characteristic 
of the Productus, P. cora and P. brachytherus, are both typical 
Uralian species. Many of the Brachiopods have been identified as 
Carboniferous, and some of them as Lower Carboniferous species. 
Amongst them are P. longispinus, P. punctatus, P. pustulosus, 
P. scabriculus, P. semireticulatus, P. undatus, Rhynchonella pleurodon, 
R. pugnus, Spirifera striata, S. rotundata, S. trigonalis, &c. It is, no 
doubt, probable that the Australian species may ultimately be separated 
from the European, but any such change will not set aside the fact 
that a whole series of fossils from the Upper and Lower Marine series 
of New South Wales are so similar to European Carboniferous species 
