124 JS. Newberry— Fossil Plants from Northern China. 
*<'This collection of plants came from the coal basin of the Pin- 
hsu-hoo, in the southern peninsula of Mantchuria, on the east side 
of the Gulf of askance. and about one hundred pret northeast 
of the open port of Niu-chwang. Iam told that at times there 
transporting coal. This coal field has long been known to for- 
eigners through the Chinese as a possible source of workable coal. 
As long ago as 1863 Professor Pumpelly iain that the Lian- 
tung coals should be examined by American or European experts 
before opening the mines at ere beat which he tah personally 
visited and reported upon favor 
So far as I know no piclagian has visited the district except 
Baron y. Richthofen, who regarded the formation as of Paleozoic 
age, although I believe he found no fossils 
From my own observations while traveling through the prov- 
inces of Chihte and Shansi, and from various sources of informa- 
tion, I believe by far the greater part of the coal basins of North 
China are of Paleozoic age, although the well-known districts 
west and northwest of Pekin have been shown to be of Mesozoic 
a 
"The estimates of the great area and value of the coal and iron 
deposits of North China, which have been made by Professor 
Pumpelly and Baron Richthofen, are, I think, by no mean 
unwarranted. 
_ There can be no question but that the coal and iron of China 
will ate to be of immense value in the material development of 
the country so soon as she decides to adopt railways and foreign 
engineering methods.’ 
On unpacking the collection I discovered that the plants 
were of Carboniferous age and that most of them belonged to 
species common in the rocks of Europe and North America. 
Of the ten species which can be Sanieaieied, one is a Pecop- 
leris too imperfect for determination (probably P. unita Brgt.), 
and two others, a Lonchopteris me an Archcopteris, present 
The complete list of species ts as follows: 
Annularia longifolia Brgt. 
Sphenophyllum oblongifolum Germar. 
Calamites Suckowii Bret. 
Cordaites borassifolius igs 
Lepidodendron pies ee Sternb. 
Sigilaria Brardi B 
Pecopteris Cyathea ste 
Pecopteris, unita ? Bret. 
pps ret aoe ¢ 
Lonchopteris, teris, N. sp.? 
