280 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 
AGE OF THE PLANT BEDS IN THE K’UIL-CHOU BASIN. 

By Davip WHITE. 

The question of the determination, from the paleobotanical stand- 
point, of the age of the coals in the K’ui-chéu* basin rests solely on the 
scant fossil plant material brought back by Pumpelly and von Richthofen 
and studies by Newberry and Schenk. ‘The combined flora embraces but 
ten species, of which but two, Nos. 7 and 8 of the following list, were 
reported by Newberry, No. 7 being also included among the nine species 
identified by Schenk. 
1. Angiopteridium richthofent (Angiopteris 
richthofent Schenk) Pterophyllum contiguum Schenk 
. Cladophlebis petruschinensis (Asplenium Podozamites lanceolatus (1). & H.) Braun 
5. Pterophyllum nathorsti Schenk 
Oz 
7- 
petruschinense Heer) 8. Podozamites emmonst Newberry 
g.- 
10. 
nN 
3. Rhabdocarpos densus Schenk Czekanowskia rigida Heer 
4. Nulsonia compta (Phill.) Goepp Araucaria prodromus Schenk 
Meager as was the collection in his hands, Newberry regarded the 
beds as Triassic chiefly on the identity of the Podozamites emmonsi with 
the plant from North Carolina. Schenk, on the other hand, judged the 
plant-bearing terranes to be at furthest not older than Rhetic, and as 
most probably belonging to the lower Jurassic. Plainly the former was 
strongly influenced} by his recent acquaintance with the older Mesozoic 
flora as then known on the American continent, while the latter was 
naturally inclined to make close comparison with the flora from eastern 
Siberia, not long before described by Heer as Jurassic. 
An attempt to confirm or revise either of these conclusions in the 
light of the distributional knowledge gained in the last score of years is 
inevitably rendered more difficult and less satisfactory in the end by 
inability to consult the original collections. At best and under the most 
favorable circumstances, the collections themselves are far too limited in 
species and too deficient in forms restricted in vertical range to decide 
with refinement as well as certainty the important question presented by 
the stratigraphy and the fossil invertebrates. At present two of the 
species, Rhabdocarpos densus and Araucaria prodromus, are essentially of 
no stratigraphic value. None of Schenk’s K’ui-chéu species is sufficiently 
illustrated. 
If we examine the discussions and figures published by Newberry and 
Schenk, and take into careful consideration the distribution observed for 

* K’ui-chéu is commonly spelled Kwei-chou in earlier reports. 
t See Amer. Journ. Sci., vol, xxv, 1883, p. 126. 
