Mat 4, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



695 



Verhandlungen des dritten Mathematiker- 

 Congresses, by H. S. White; 'Notes' and 

 ' New Publications.' 



The Botanical Gazette for April contains 

 the second paper of Dr. E. W. Olive on 

 ' Cytological Studies on the Entomophthoreae,' 

 being a presentation of the nuclear and cell 

 division of Empusa; a second paper by Pro- 

 fessor V. M. Spalding on the ' Biological Ee- 

 lations of Desert Shrubs,' in which the results 

 of experimental work on the absorption of 

 water by leaves is presented; descriptions of 

 numerous new species of Califomian plants, 

 by Miss Alice Eastwood; and a sixth paper 

 on North American grasses, by A. S. Hitch- 

 cock. The usual book reviews and notes for 

 students close the number. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



At the lY5th meeting of the society on 

 February 14, the following papers were pre- 

 sented : 



Paleozoic Stratigraphy of China: Bailey 



Willis. 



Mr. Willis presented certain stratigraphic 

 results of the Carnegie expedition to China 

 of 1903^ for geological research. Strati- 

 graphic sections were carefully observed in 

 the northeastern province, Shan-tung, in 

 northern Shan-si, and in the central region of 

 south Shen-si and Ssi-ch'uan. In general, 

 the Paleozoic system is extensively represented 

 from late lower Cambrian to Carboniferous 

 or Permian. The basement on which it rests 

 is commonly a metamorphic complex of the 

 general character of the Archean, but locally 

 at least two pre-Cambrian systems, one of 

 which resembles the Huronian and the other 

 the Belt Mountain series, are distinguishable. 

 In north China, north of latitude 34°, the 

 Cambrian and Ordovician constitutes a con- 

 tinuous sequence of limestones, with occa- 

 sional interbedded shales, about 3,500 feet 

 thick. The basal shale, 350 to 500 feet thick, 

 is distinguished by the prevailing red color of 

 the sediments. The unconformity at the 

 bottom is one of marine plantation across a 



previously developed peneplain, and is very 

 even. There is no lithologic break at the top 

 of the Cambrian, the passage to the Ordo- 

 vician occurring in the body of limestones 

 and being recognized only by the fossUs. At 

 the top of the Ordovician there is an eroded 

 surface which closely parallels the bedding of 

 the limestones, but exhibits hollows which are 

 occasionally ten or fifteen feet deep and are 

 filled with clay that is useful for pottery. 

 Upon this surface rest shales which carry 

 upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) fossils 

 and contain coal beds. In the upper part of 

 the coal-bearing measures basaltic flows are 

 interstratified with shales. Cross-stratified 

 red sandstones succeed, and above these come 

 in sandstones with coals which carry Jurassic 

 plants. The sequence resembles that of the 

 Permo-Mesozoic of India. 



In central China the Paleozoic sequence 

 differs from that in north China in several 

 respects. At the base on the Tang-tzi there 

 is a granite which may be Archean or Algon- 

 kian. It is locally overlain by 150 feet of 

 quartzite, upon which rests an early Cambrian 

 glacial till. Limestones approximately 4,500 

 feet thick rest upon the till and include in the 

 lower layers a conglomerate containing pebbles 

 derived from, the till. These limestones rep- 

 resent the Cambro-Ordovician sequence and 

 carry at their top a rich fauna of Trenton age. 

 They pass by transition into thin bedded 

 shales which are in part Carboniferous, sug- 

 gesting the Devonian black shale of the Ap- 

 palachian region, and in part greenish shaly 

 sandstone like the Chemung. This formation 

 is about 1,800 feet thick and represents all the 

 Middle Paleozoic. It is overlain in apparent 

 conformity by a limestone 4,000 feet thick, 

 which contains coal beds and about 1,000 feet 

 above its base yielded upper Carboniferous 

 fossils of late Pennsylvanian association. 

 From a layer at the contact of the limestone 

 with the shales a few obscure forms, which 

 may be late Devonian or lower Carboniferous, 

 were obtained. Above the Carboniferous 

 limestone comes in the sequence of Red Beds 

 with thin marine limestone and coal beds, 

 which some 600 or 800 feet above their base 

 contain Jurassic plants. Thus in central 



