412 J. S. Lee—An Outline of Chinese Geology. 
a, Lower Series. Massive conglomerate and sandstone immediately 
underlain by a bituminous limestone with Lower Carboniferous 
fossils, e.g. Lonsdaleia floriformis, L. papillata, Zaphrentis spinulosa 
Syringopora ramulosa, Hallia (Caninia) gigantea, Fistulipora 
minor. 
Richthofen describes a classical section of this series in the 
Hsi-hsia-shan, near Nan-king. 
It.is highly probable that these three series do not ie corre- 
spond to those of eastern Yun-nan. Apparently either the whole 
or the lower part of the Upper Series described here is equivalent 
to the Middle Series of eastern Yun-nan. That is to say, only the 
lower part of the Fusulinidea Limestone of south-western China is 
present in the lower Yang-tze Valley. The upper part of the Lower 
Series, namely, the conglomerate and sandstone, possibly corresponds 
in time to the post-Middle Carboniferous and pre-Uralian uncen- 
formity already mentioned. 
Closely related to the Anthracolithic Formation both in point of 
time and space, are several series of rocks in China that still 
evade our classification. In the Sin-tai Basin, western Shan-tung, 
Blackwelder distinguishes a Sintai Series consisting of sandstones 
and other kinds of terrestrial deposit. In view of the fact that the 
Sintai Series overlies the Poshan Series, Blackwelder regards the 
former as a Permo-Mesozoic formation. Plant-remains that have 
been obtained from this series generally indicate a Liassic age. The 
thickness of the series, according to Richthofen, amounts to about 
1,400 feet, and according to Blackwelder still less. It therefore 
appears to be doubtful whether even the lowest part of the Sintai 
Series should be assigned to the transitional period from the 
Paleozoic to the Mesozoic. The Supra-coal Sandstone, a barren, 
massive sandstone overlying the Shansian Productive Measures 
in many places of northern and north-western China, is in all 
probability a true Permo-Mesozoic representative. In central 
China two series of Permo-Mesozoic rocks are known: the one is 
the Kuei-chou Series,! consisting of sandstones, shales with sub- 
ordinate bands of limestones and layers of coal, and has yielded 
Dielasma ct. elongatum, Aviculopecten (2) richthofeni, crinoidal 
fragments, foraminiferal tests, Nilssonia, Podozamites, Asplenium, 
etc. It is frequently exposed in the Ta-ning-ho valley, western 
Hu-peh and eastern Su-chuan. The other is a coal-bearing shale 
of Hwang-i-kang,? in the lower part of the Liu-ho valley, eastern 
Hu-nan, where Richthofen collected a peculiar molluscan fauna 
including the species Aviculopecten coxanus, Pecten alberta, 
and several species of Schizodus and Bellerophon. 
About the Carboniferous-Permian rocks in China our knowledge 
is at present comparatively more advanced, and therefore a more 
precise interpretation of China’s geological history during that 
period can be here attempted. In the early Carboniferous time the 
1 Willis, op. cit., vol. i, pt. i, pp. 277-83. 
* Frech, China, vol. v, pp. 184-94. 
