54 GEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN 



oil has a very powerful odor, and is used to light the area where the pits and cop- 

 pers of salt are concentrated." 



" The largest fire wells are those at Tselieoutsing, forty leagues from Wutung. 

 Tselieoutsing, situated in the mountains, on the banks of a small river, also contains 

 salt pits, bored in the same manner as at Wutung. In one valley are seen four pits 

 Avhich give a flame, to an amount truly frightful, but no water. These pits, for the 

 most part, have previously afforded salt water; which water being drained, the 

 proprietors, twelve years smce, caused them to be sunk even to three thousand feet 

 and more of depth, hoping to procure an abundant supply of water. All this was 

 in vain ; but there suddenly gushed forth an enormous column of air which brought 

 with it large, dark particles. These did not resemble smoke, but the vapor of a 

 glowing furnace. This air escaped with a roaring and frightful rumbling, which 

 was heard at a great distance. The orifices of the pits are surmounted by a wall 

 of stone six or seven feet high, for fear that, inadvertently, or through malice, some 

 one might apply fire to the opening of the shaft. This misfortime happened in 

 August last. As soon as the fire was applied to the surface of the well, it made a 

 frightful explosion, and even something was felt approaching to an earthquake. 

 The flame, which was about two feet high, leaped over the surface of the earth 

 without burning anything. Four men devoted themselves and carried an enormous 

 stone over the orifice of the pit. Immediately it was thrown up into the air ; three 

 of the men were scorched, the fourth escaped ; neither water nor dirt would extin- 

 guish the fire. Finally, after fifteen days of stubborn work, a quantity of water 

 Avas brought over the neighboring mountain, a lake or dam was formed, and the 

 Avater was suddenly let loose, which extinguished the fire. This was at an expense 

 of about thirty thousand francs."^ 



Fossils from Cli'ma? — Mr. Davidson, after examining a collection of shells sent by 

 Dr. Lockhart to the British Museum, came to the conclusion, "that the specimens 

 belonged to eight Devonian species, seven of which are common to several European 

 localities, among which we may mention Ferques and Nehon (France), Belgium, 

 and the Eifel, but they are not found all existing together in any one of these 

 localities. In external aspect they most resemble those from Ferques, in which 

 locality, however, neither the Cyrtia MurcMsoniana nor the Rhynclionella Hanhurii 

 have been as yet discovered." If to these we add the other two described by M. de 

 Koninck,'^ the total number of Chinese Devonian types now known will amount to 

 ten species : viz., 3 of Spirifer, 2 of EhynchoneUa, 1 Productus, 1 Crania, 1 Cornu- 

 lites, I Spirorbis, and 1 Aulopora. The species determined by Mr. Davidson were 

 as follows : Spirifer disjunctus, Soioerhy ; Cyrtia Murchisoniana, De Koninch ; Ehyn- 

 choneUa Hanburii, Davidson ; Productus subaculcatus, MurcJiison ; Crania obsoleta. 

 Gold fuss ; Spirorbis omphalodes, Goldfuss {?) ; Cornulites epithonia, Goldfuss (J) ; 



' Compare Humboldt, Asie Centrale, II, p. 521, 525. 



^ On some Fossil Brachiopodes, etc. T. Davidson. Quart. Journ. Geolog. Soc, IX, 1853, p. 35.3. 

 ^ "Notice sur deux especes Brachiopodes du Terrain Paleozoique de la Chine." Bulletin de 

 TAcademie Roy. des Sciences, Lettres et Beaux Arts de Belgiqne. 1846. XIII, pt. 2, p. 415. 



