284 The American Geologist. xovember, 1904. 
so that in tlie Kisso range and in the Hida range it reaches its great- 
est elevation in the vicinity of -that descent. On the east side the 
basement vanishes at once, completely covered by later deposits, and 
where it becomes visible again in tlie Kwanto range and farther to 
the north, it rises only rarely to a little more than 2000 meters. Even 
the granite domes, which in reference to the relations of altitude have 
an independent position, are lower than those of the west. Harada 
has called attention to the regional value of these differences in eleva- 
tion. 
3. The fracture line cuts off diagonally the strike directions of the 
western ranges in the principal srtretch from Nirasaki to beyond 
Matsumoto, under angles of 40° to 60" ; in the two N-S stretches, how- 
ever, it is approximately parallel to them ; it is as if it were deflected in 
sections by the lines of the internal structurt, as is so often the case 
with continental arcs of the plateau borders. 
4. To the eastward from the fracture, the strike directions of the 
western ranges do not jigain appear. All observers agree in this that 
in the Kwanto range, in spite of many irregularities, the direction 
NW-WNW is to be considered the normal one. A bending around of 
the strike from one side to the other it has not been possible, to prove, 
since the connection is interrupted. It is also in itself not probable 
because to the north of the Akkaischi-yama a bending back of the beds 
occurs from N by E to Niy Further, the gneiss band of the north 
zone, in which the Tenriu-gawa flows, is no longer visible upon the 
east side. 
5. A support for a determination of the time of the sinking i-n, 
it IS not yet possible to obtain ; since the circumstance that the entire 
north wing of Japan, from the great fracture line to the borders of 
Abukuma and Kitakami, is covered over with heavy marine Tertiary 
deposits of Miocene and Pliocene age, whereas they are restricted in 
the west of the fracture line to tlie coasts and lower-lying portions, 
does not suffice; and from the distribution of the Trias, as well as 
portions of marine and in part continental development of the 
Jurassic and Cretaceous, certain conclusions are not yet to be drawn. 
The analogy also with the numerous meridional fractures* of east Asia, 
for which in general the beginning probably occurred in early Mesozoic 
time, and further development in later periods, cannot be here ap- 
plied, since this fracture furnishes in comparison with the others, much 
thai is peculiar. 
The J'fllcaitic Scries of Fuji ami Ihc Line of Islands in the Boiiin 
Ridge. The volcanic series of Fuji stretches to the eastward of the 
great cross fracture transversely through Hondo, furthermore not 
in a straight but in a broken line. The mean direction can be 
regarded as parallel to that of the cross fracture : but this does not 
hold true for the individual sections of both lines. According to the 
present view of the Japanese geologists, the Fuji volcanic series begins 
in the north with the group of Mioko-san, whose peak is distant 26 
kilometers from the coast. The line runs from it S 10" E to the Tates- 
