Mr. J. Gr. H. Godfrey on the Geology of Japan. 473 



equally incompetent to bring about the desiderated climatic con- 

 ditions, and that even a former much greater elevation of the land, 

 combined with the appearance of a Sahara sea, would fail to supply 

 us with the severe winter climate that was necessary to produce the 

 great agglomerates. They thought that the most probable ex- 

 planation of the phenomena described is that the cold conditions 

 referred to -were contemporaneous with that general refrigeration of 

 climate which took place over so vast an area in our hemisphere 

 during Pleistocene times. The limestone-agglomerates they look 

 upon as the equivalents of those glacial deposits that occur so 

 plentifully in our own and other countries ; and the bone-breccias, 

 which are intermediate in date between the lower and upper lime- 

 stone agglomerates, are paralleled by the interglacial beds of the 

 British Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, &c. 



2. " Xotes on the Geology of Japan." By J. G. H. Godfrev, 

 Esq., F.G.S. 



The author stated that Yesso, the most northern island of the 

 Japanese group, had been geologically surveyed under the direction 

 of Mr. Lyman, but that the geology of the other islands was chiefly 

 known from Eichthofen's general description. He finds that the 

 classification of formations proposed by Lyman for Yesso holds good 

 in all the other islands. Thus, going from newer to older deposits, 

 he distinguishes : — 



1 . New alluvium, formed by existiug rivers. 



2. Old alluvium, formed by ancient rivers. 



3. New volcanic rocks, consisting of basalt and rhyolite. Most 

 of the Japanese volcanoes are extinct; but a few, such as Asamoyama, 

 are in the solfatara stage ; hot springs abound, and earthquakes are 

 frequent. 



4. Toshibetsu group, Middle or Lower Tertiary sandstones, clays, 

 and conglomerates, containing lignite and petroleum.. 



5. Old volcanic series, rhyolitic rocks, often distinctly bedded, 

 covering a vast area, and with numerous lodes and deposits contain- 

 ing gold, silver, copper, lead, and blende. 



6. Horimui group, a coal- and lignite -bearing series of consider- 

 able extent, apparently best developed in the western part of Japan, 

 and especially in the north of the island of Kiushiu, where the depo- 

 sits are shown by fossil evidence to be of Cretaceous age. 



7. Kamoikotan or metamorphic group, consisting of various 

 schistose and gneissic rocks, distinctly stratified, and usually show- 

 ing a dip of upwards of 60°. Owing to the absence of fossils the 

 age of this group is still undecided; Eichthofen regards it as 

 Silurian or Devonian. Granite and diorite are frequently intruded 

 into this series ; and they contain some important mineral veins. 



The author went into considerable details upon the useful minerals 

 of Japan, noticing their mode of occurrence and the quantities in 

 which they are produced. The most important of them are : — 

 coal and lignite, copper, silver, gold, iron, petroleum, lead, and tin ; 

 those of less consequence are sulphur (from the old craters), an- 

 timony, mercury, kaolin, and salt. 



