J. W. CARRALL ON CHINESE CARBONIFEROUS PLANTS. 



83 



8. Notes on the Locality of some Fossils found in the Carboniferous 

 Boce:s at T'ang- Shan, China. By James W. Carrall, Esq., 

 E.G.S. &c, of IT. I. M. Customs Service, China. (Eead Novem- 

 ber 3, 1880.) 



The fossils which form the subject of this paper were found at 

 T'ang Shan, Ch'iao Chia T'un, in Lan Chow of the Province of 

 Chih Li, and about 120 miles from the treaty port of Tientsin, 

 in a N.N.E. direction from that port. 



A Chinese company has been formed, known as the " Chinese 

 Engineering and Mining Company," to work the bituminous coal 

 deposits there found on the European system. 



Mining operations were commenced in 1878 by ascertaining the 

 locality of the coal-seams by boring with the diamond boring- 

 machine. The bore-holes, three in number, averaged about 400 feet 

 apart ; the third and deepest of the three driven reached a depth of 

 536 feet. 



The seams dip at an angle of 45° to the north, calculated by the 

 angle of the strata found in the bores. 



The thickness of the coal-seams, not taken at the slant but 

 parallel to the beds, is as follows : — 



ft. in. 



No. 1 seam, N. of King seam 6 odd. 



King seam 1 8 



No. 1 seam, S. of King seam 5 7 



No. 2 seam „ 1 4 



No. 3 seam „ 11 



No. 4 seam „ 4 2 



The seams are in curves or folds ; one seam that comes to the 

 surface at the back of the colliery, again appears above ground 

 halfway from the colliery to Kai P'ing (say three miles from the 

 first outcrop), and again five miles further on, trending in a north- 

 erly direction. 



Some very good magnetite, containing between 45 and 50 per cent, 

 of metallic iron, has been found at Pai Mah Shan, about seventeen 

 miles from T'ang Shan. It is intended to erect rolling-mills near 

 the colliery, and place them also under foreign superintendence, 

 trams being laid down (after permission has been obtained) between 

 Pai Mah Shan and the hills for the transit of the ore. 



The most striking feature of the geological formation of the 

 country round T'ang Shan is, that above the Carboniferous system 

 is first loose sand and then loam, the loam being uppermost, and 

 extending but deepening all the way to Tientsin. Decomposed 

 red sandstone was seen in the distance to the north. 



A gradual ascent commences four miles before coming to Lu 

 T'ai by land from Han Ku, and continues all the way to T'ang 

 Shan. The colliery is situated in this incline, and is about a mile 



