TCHIHATCHEFF ON THE ALTAI DISTRICT. 553 



y. Deposits, which may be considered as intimately related with 

 those of the carboniferous series and forming the uppermost 

 portion of them, perhaps, indeed, belonging to the group now 

 described as Permian, occupy an extensive basin, which I have 

 designated " the basin of Kouznetzk," from the city of that name 

 situated near the middle of the district. In this wide extent 

 two localities are especially remarkable by their palseontological 

 characters, namely, the village of Afonina and the banks of the 

 river Inia, and both are especially rich in the trunks of fossil 

 trees, which have been the subjects of investigation by M. 

 Goeppert. The following is a list of the different species of 

 vegetable markings and trees found in these deposits : — 



Anarthrocanna deliquescens Gcep. Noeggerathia asqualis Gcep. 



Neuropteris adnata Id. N. distans 



Sphenopteris imbricata Id. Araucarites Tchihatcheffianus Gcep. 

 S. anthriscifolia Id. 



The probable absence in the Altai district of any deposits more 

 recent than those of the palasozoic period corresponds in a re- 

 markable manner with the similar absence of trachytes, properly 

 so called, of basalt, obsidian, lavas, and generally of all rocks 

 characterising periods comparatively modern. This circumstance 

 not only constitutes one of the most striking distinctive characters 

 between the Altai district and America, Hungary, Turkey in 

 Europe, the Phlegrgean fields, the Island of Java, &c, all of which 

 exhibit trachytic rocks and lavas, but it also distinguishes western 

 from eastern Siberia. In fact the great extent of country east- 

 wards from the Yenesei exhibits basaltic rocks, phonolites, 

 trachytes, species of obsidian, perlites and lava currents (as at 

 Kamtchatka), associated with secondary deposits not occurring in 

 the Altai. The peninsula of Kamtchatka also, which, of all these 

 vast regions, is the one best characterised by modern phenomena 

 of eruption, contains the most recent sedimentary rocks hitherto 

 discovered in Siberia ; since, according to M. Ermann, cretaceous 

 rocks fringe a considerable part of its western shore, and are 

 flanked by a broad band of tertiary deposits. It is, therefore, 

 probable that a part of Eastern Siberia, especially the tract watered 

 by the river Lena, between Yakoutsk and the mouth of the 

 river, including several islands in the Arctic Ocean situated near 

 the mouth, have been elevated more recently than that part 

 of Siberia stretchino- westwards to the Saiansk mountains. Per- 

 haps hereafter, when our knoAvledge of Central Asia is less vague, 

 this line may be extended to include the great chain of Thian-Chan, 

 if indeed the cautious policy of China should allow us to examine 

 more closely the volcanic cones and craters, whether recent or 

 still in action, in the western governments of that vast empire. 



If, however, in respect of geological age, the greater part of the 

 Altai finds its representatives in the older formations of Asia, 

 Africa, and America, this district is not less strikingly distin- 



