ie Sees Any Outline of Chinese Geology. 409 
An Outline of Chinese Geology 
By J. 8S. Ler, M.Sc., Birmingham. 
(Concluded from p. 377.) 
The apparent conflict in paleontological evidence is still more 
ageravated if the views of several able paleobotanists be taken 
into consideration. Plant-remains have been frequently found from 
the Shansian rocks in various parts ofnorthern China. They amount 
to a copious flora. Numerous species are described by Newberry, 
Schenk, Abbado, Zeiller, Zalescky, and Yokoyama. In some cases 
these writers agree in assigning the flora to the Upper Carboniferous. 
The presence of Ta@mopteris multinervis, which is said to have never 
been found in Europe below the Autunian stage, and a number of 
its allied species, such as Lepidodendron gaudryi, Calamites cf. 
lecoderma, has, however, led Zeiller to conclude that the coal-bearing 
Shansian rocks in the Shan-si Province range from the highest 
Stephanian to the Lower Permian. Schenk also holds that the 
coal-bearing series of Kai-ping, eastern Chi-li, and that of Pen-hsi- 
hu, Manchuria, are of Permian age. 
It is to be noted that the plant-remains occur in the strata closely 
associated with the coal seams; the coal seams usually occur above 
the limestone yielding the marine fossils, and are sometimes inter- 
calated in it, but rarely found below it. When the coal seams 
occur above the limestone, the intervening rocks generally consist. 
of sandstones and shales having a total thickness of less than 250 feet. 
It is therefore evident that even if we take the maximum thickness 
of rocks between the faunal and floral zones it can hardly be con- 
sidered as sufficiently thick for representing such a long period of 
time as it would necessarily do if the fauna really belongs to the 
Lower Carboniferous. Suggestions have been made as to the possible 
existence of a stratigraphical break between the marine formation 
and the Productive Measures in the coal-fields of Shan-si and Shan- 
tung, but no known structural facts seem to support this idea. For 
future stratigraphical research the numerous species of Fusulinidea 
that occur in the marine limestone may yet prove to be of immense 
value as age-indicators. At present the presence of these 
Foraminifera, together with the flora, seems to justify the state- 
ment that the Shansian System represents a period not earlier than 
the Middle Carboniferous nor later than the youngest Permian. 
With respect to the marine facies, it is best, under the light of 
our present knowledge, to take the development in eastern Yun-nan 
as a typical one. There the Anthracolithic Formation may be 
described as consisting of the following three series ?:— 
1 Smithsonian Contribution, vol. xv, art. 4, pp. 121-3; China, vol. iv, 
pp. 211-44; Paleont., vol. xxxi, 1885, pp. 163-82; Paleont. italica, vol. v, 
1900, pp. 125-44; Ann. d. Min., vol. xix, sér. rx, 1901, pp. 431-53; Verh. K. 
Russ. M. Gesell., ser. 1, vol. xlii, pp. 385-98; Journ. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. 
Tokyo, No. 8, 1908, pp. 1-18. 
2 Deprat, op. cit., pp. 98-174. 
