264 LA TOUCHE : GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN SHAN STATES. 



to complete the connection, and we have no evidence that such a 

 submergence ever took place. At the same 

 P»s«ble connection ti traces of marine strata belonging to 



south ot the Himalaya. 6 b 



this period have been discovered to the east 

 of the Salt Range in the Punjab, on either side of the valley 

 of the Ganges or its tributaries. It must, however, be 

 remembered that we have no knowledge whatever of the 

 si l a ta that underlie the Ganges alluvium ; and I am by no means 

 convinced that a direct communication may not have been opened 

 up between the seas of the Punjab and of Burma at this time. 

 I will return to this question in a future chapter (p. 351 seq.) ; but 

 at present it will be sufficient to say that the very close similarity 

 between the Middle Productus fauna of the Salt Range and 

 that of the Shan States seems to require a more direct 

 connection between the respective seas than would be afforded by 

 a communication by way of the northern branch of the ' Tethys ' 

 alone. 



The distribution of the fauna, when compared with that of the 

 same period in other regions, presents some 

 lithiflauna.''' Anthraco ' interesting points. There is a striking con- 

 nection with the Permian and Carboniferous 

 faunas of Russia, 29 out of the 78 Shan species being identical 

 or closely allied ; but this was only to be expected, in considera- 

 tion of the resemblance that is known to exist between the Permo- 

 Carboniferous Salt Range fauna and that of the Ural. On the 



. . , other hand, this list would seem to show that 

 Extension into China. , . . . 



there was no very close connection between 



the Shan and China seas, only seven species being common ; but 

 the facies of the fauna is the same in the two areas, and as v. 

 Loczy 1 has shown that the Chinese fauna was nearly related to that 

 of the Salt Range and of the Ural, further exploration of the inter- 

 vening country will probably reveal a closer resemblance between the 

 faunas of China and the Shan States than now appears to exist. 

 Limestones belonging to this period have been found in Yunnan, 

 and in the adjoining district of Batang in Western Sze-chuan, but 

 they do not appear to have extended into north-eastern China, 

 where the Carboniferous limestones are succeeded by red sandstones 

 oi a continental type, of Permo-Triassic age. 2 



1 Reise des Grafen Bela Szechenyi in Ostasicn, Vol. HI, p. 175 el seq. 



2 Bailey Willis, Research in China. Vol. II, Chap. VI. 



