BEEDE AND ROGERS.] Coal Measures Faunal Studies. 351 
clined to think that there were insufficient data for separating 
the rocks of this system into stages based upon their faunal 
content, while some have gone so far as to state that “The 
Permian formation scarcely needs mention, for these is no 
break between it and the Carboniferous, and for practical pur- 
poses it is all Carboniferous,” and that “It may be that the 
Permian, in point of fact, began later with the Red Beds.’”’?”" 
As previously stated, careful collecting and study of the 
fossils reveals the fact that the various horizons throughout 
the state possess faunal characters by which they may be di- 
vided into groups or stages which may be recognized by those 
familiar with them. When studied further and more critically, 
faunal groups will stand out more distinctly. 
However, it cannot be denied that many of the species of the 
fossils of these rocks have a remarkable range.?7® On the 
whole, the most important of these species are brachiopods, as 
is apparent upon inspection of the charts at the close of the 
article. 
Not only is the range of some of the species remarkable, but 
their associates, when compared with those of foreign coun- 
tries, is still more surprising. Time and space forbid us enter- 
ing upon this interesting topic, and a few examples will have to 
suffice. For instance, Spiriferina cristata (Schloth.), very 
closely related to S. kentuckiensis (Shum.), passes not only 
through the Carboniferous of England but well up into the 
Permian, while in this country no species of the genus is known 
above the Elmdale formation. In Russia Chonetes mesolobus © 
N. and P. is associated with Schwagerina, while in Kansas they 
are separated by about 2000 feet of rocks. Practically the 
same thing could be said concerning many other species. On 
the other hand there are some, such as F'usilina, which continue 
to exist in the Kansas rocks much longer than they do in the 
rocks of Europe. 
Taking the fossils of great range, such as are usually re- 
ferred to as being found “throughout” a series of rocks, as the 
phrase is sometimes loosely used, we have to deal with two 
classes of fossils. In the first place there are those like Sem- 
inula argentea (Shep.), which are found in practically every 
formation where conditions were such that they could be ex- 
277. Barbour, Neb. Geol. Surv., I, p. 129, 1903. 
278. “Stratigraphie range’ is abbreviated to “range” in this article, and ‘“‘geo- 
graphic distribution” to “distribution.” 
