296 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 
B. Coal-bearing formation of Kuang-yuan. Just above the limestones there come: 
(1) Sandy and clayey sandy rocks of yellow and gray coloring, generally thinly 
bedded. In the lower part are old mine dumps, which indicate the presence 
of a coal-seam. Thickness, 1,000 feet. 
(2) Alternating plant-bearing shales and soft sandstones, which are filled with 
remains of plant stems. ‘Thickness, 200 feet. This member contains two 
coal-beds 3 to 4 feet thick. * * * The remains of plants have been 
determined by Prof. Schenk as belonging to the lower Jura. 
(3) Heavy beds of coarse conglomerate. The pebbles, which consist of limestone 
and firm sandstone, are coarsest toward the bottom. ‘Thickness, 300 feet. 
(4) Yellow sandstone, alternating with clayey strata. Thickness, 1,000 feet. 
(5) Clayey sandstones, in part reddish. Thickness, 600 feet. 
(6) Heavy-bedded greenish sandstone, soft and crumbling, as are all auriacones 
of the formation. ‘Thickness, 500 feet. 
The following comment by Léczy* appears to have a bearing on the 
relations of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks of the basin of Ssi-ch’uan, 
and to cover in part the section observed by von Richthofen (Kwang- 
yuén-hsien and Quan-juén-shien being one and the same place): 
The fossils of the great Red Basin are almost exclusively remains of plants. I col- 
lected plants near the coal-mines of the mountains of Lin-tschin-shien, Hoani-pu in western 
Se-tschuen, and near Quan-ju6n-shien. The remains from the first locality are considered 
by A. Schenk to be Rhetic or Triassic, while those from Hoani-pu and Quan-juén belong 
to the middle Jura (Dogger). 
It is noteworthy that the supposed Rhetic strata of Lin-tschin-shien are more 
involved in the folding of the underlying strata than those which belong to the higher 
sandstones of the Dogger. 
The section observed by us on the Ta-ning-ho presents, above the 
Wu-shan (Carboniferous) limestone, a series which is similar to but thinner 
than that at Kuang-ytian-hién. Von Richthofen’s red thin-bedded lime- 
stone, forming the lower part of A, corresponds in color and position with 
the red shale, 400 feet, 120 meters, thick, of our section of the base of 
the K’ui-ch6u; the differences of thickness and clayey or calcareous nature 
aside. The dolomite of A agrees with the limestone (possibly dolomitic) 
from which we obtained the fossils that Girty regards as of late Paleozoic, 
probably Permian, age. Above the limestone we observed coal-bearing 
sandstones similar to B, the lower Jura of von Richthofen’s section, and 
the plants collected on the Yang-tzi by him and Pumpelly point to the 

* ‘‘Die Versteinerungen des grossen rothen Beckens sind fast ausschliesslich pflanzliche Ueberreste. 
Ich sammelte Pflanzen in der Nahe der Kohlengruben der Gebirge von Lin-tschin-shien, Hoani-pu, im 
westlichen Se-tschuen, und bei Quan-juén-shien. Die vom ersten Orte stammenden Ueberreste bezeich- 
nete A. Schenk als rhaetisch oder triadisch, die aus Hoani-pu und Quan-juén stammenden als der mitt- 
leren Jura (Dogger) angehdrend. 
“Es ist bemerkenswerth, dass die fiir rhaetisch gehaltenen Schichten von Lin-tschin-shien mehr an 
der Faltung des Grundgebirges theilnehmen, als die dem Dogger angehérenden hédheren Sandstein- 
Schichten.” Ergebnisse der Reise des Grafen Széchenyi, vol. m1, p. 211; also vol. 1, p. 685. 
