JURASSIC SYSTEM : NAMYAU SERIES. 



307 



cut away, and I could not identify the f ossiferous bed. Sub- 

 sequently, however, during the field-season of 1901-1902, Mr. Datta 

 discovered a number of brachiopods, chiefly Terebratula and Rhyn- 

 chonella, in one of the limestone bands on the left bank of the 

 Nam-Tu opposite Bawgyo (F 2), and a good collection was also 

 made from a band of shelly limestone exposed in a railway cutting 

 about two miles beyond Se-In 1 (Loc. 8, G 2). Later on, when 

 the limestone bands to the north of Hsipaw were searched, a very 

 fair collection of fossils was obtained at the following localities : — 

 Na-kyeh (Loc. 4, G 1) ; Nahawk and Namhathai (Locs. 5 and 6, P 1) ; 

 and Ta-ti (Loc. 7, F 2). The brachiopods from these places have been 

 submitted to Mr. S. S. Buckman for description ; 2 but unfortunately, 

 the results of his examination of the collections are not yet ready 

 for publication, and I am therefore not in a position to give a com- 

 plete list of the fossils. The general conclusion, 

 kindly communicated to me by Mr. Buckman, 

 is that the Namyau beds are probably equivalent to the Bathonian 

 (Bradford Clay and Cornbrash) of England, though it is quite possible 

 that more than one horizon is represented. Much more field work, how- 

 ever, is necessary before the relations of the different bands to each 

 other can be determined ; and it will probably be found that they 

 do not all belong to a single horizon. But the absence of lime- 

 stone bands in the upper portion of the series, and of any rock 

 whatever overlying the red sandstones, will render it impossible, 

 I fear, to determine the upper limits of the formation. 



It is noteworthy that in the whole collection from these beds 

 there is not a single Ammonite or other Ceph- 



Absenco of Cephalopoda. , - . . . . . , r 



alopod, though at this period they were com- 

 mon enough in the Central Himalayan area and in Cutch. One 



1 It may be interesting to collectors to record the circumstances of this latter find, 

 as it affords a hint for the treatment of such limestones as these, where the fossils are seen 

 only on the weathered surface, and cannot be extracted without difficulty, if at all. 

 I found a Shan coolie in the act of breaking up a heap of limestone blocks into ballast, 

 and to my surprise, at nearly every blow of his hammer a whole Terebratula or other 

 fossil fell out like a kernel from a nut ; and this after 1 had spent hours in trying to extract 

 a recognisable fossil from the rock ! Examining his method more closely, 1 found that the 

 material on which he was working had been partially burnt in an adjoining lime-kiln, 

 and Jhat the expansion of the rock, duo to the heat, had evidently loosened the fossils 

 from the matrix. Taking the hint, I roasted a number of blocks of tho limestone in a 

 large open tire, and was rewarded with a fair number of specimens, but it was evident 

 that it required the concentrated heal of a kiln to make the experiment a complete 

 success. 



2 A few fossils were also obtained from these beds on tho left bank of tho Nam-Tu at 

 Tong-ang (Loc. '.). F .*{) and at tho foot of the l'ongwo scarp near Namhsawm (Loc. 10, 

 E 3) about :i miles south-east of Pangsam. 



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