10 LA TOUCHE : GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN SHAN STATES. 



natural cliff-sections that enable one actually to see the super- 

 position of the strata. It must be remembered also that the 

 time spent in the field has been confined to less than six 

 months in each year, over a total period of only seven years, and 

 has been barely more than sufficient to allow rapid traverses from 

 point to point, leaving little time for the study of details ; and 

 that it has often been found impossible to revisit a locality or 

 section, even when observations made in other places have shown 

 that the first impressions formed required modification. Indeed I 

 may say that until the last day of my sojourn in the country, I 

 was continually coming upon fresh facts that caused me to alter, 

 to a greater or less degree, opinions I had previously formed ; 

 and even during the writing of this Memoir I have at times felt 

 much regret that I was unable to revisit some of the sections, in 

 order to clear up doubts that work in the laboratory has forced 

 me to entertain regarding my interpretation of certain questions. 



Imperfect as it is, this account of the geology would have been 

 a mere shadow of itself, if I had been de- 

 Jr£r t0l0giCal P rived of the assistance which I have received 



and most gratefully acknowledge, from the 

 labours of the distinguished palaeontologists to whom the collections 

 of fossils made by my colleagues and myself have been entrusted 

 for description, Miss M. Healey, Mr. F. R. Cowper Reed, Dr. C. 

 Diener, and Mr. S. S. Buckman. The results of their researches, 

 published in the Palceontologia Indica, 1 are of the utmost value, 

 and the following pages will show to what an extent I have 

 drawn upon them for my interpretation of the geological sequence. 

 The material placed at their disposal was often, I fear, of a most 

 difficult and ill-preserved nature ; but the consistent character of 

 the results achieved are an abiding testimony to the enthusiasm 

 and skill which have been devoted to the work. 



In conclusion, I have only to express a hope that others will 

 take up the work, and fill in the details of this sketch. There 

 is no part of India, indeed I may say of southern Asia, which is 

 at the same time so accessible to the geologist, and presents so 

 great and varied a sequence of fossiliferous formations as this 



1 F. R. Cowper Reed, The Lower Palaeozoic Fossils* of the Northern Shan States ; 

 Pal. Ind., New Ser., Vol. II, Mem. No. 3 ; The Devonian Faunas of the Northern Shan 

 States ; ibid, Mem. No. 5 : Miss M. Healey, The Fauna of the Napeng Beds or the 

 Rhaotic Beds of Upper Burma ; ibid, Mem. No. 4 : Dr. C. Diener, Anthracolithic Fossils 

 of the Northern Shan States ibid, Vol. Ill, Mem. No. 4. 



