Scientia Sinica

No. | SZE: ON LEPIDODENDROPSIS HIRMERI LUTZ 141

or not it represents young branches of Sublep. murabile, it is a species probably not a Lepidodendropsis.

Judging from the conclusion of the present study, I am disposed to believe that there is so far in China only one occurrence of Lepidodendropsis known, ie. the specimens described in the present paper from the Wutung Series of Lungt’an. In this connection, it is of interest to point out that in the map of distribution of Lepidodendropsis given by Prof. Jongmans'), the small point indicating the presence of this genus in the Wutung Series near Nanking has been wrongly placed in a region north of the Yangtze River. This point should be situated at a place south of the river. The other two points indicating the presence of Lepidodendropsis in Central Hunan and Eastern Yunnan in Jongmans’ map must, based on the present study, be discarded. The composition of the Middle Devonian floras in Eastern Yunnan and Central Hunan is consistent with the conclusions based on stratigraphical and palzozoological evidences.

There remains the question whether the age of the Wutung Series could be assigned to the Upper Devonian. In a recent account"), I have pointed out that until the characteristic elements of the Upper Devonian Leptophloeum floras of Hupeh, Kiangsi and Kwangtung have been found in the Wutung Series, the assignment of this series to an Upper Devonian age must be accepted with reserve. As stated above, the assignment of such forms as Sphenophyllum lungtanense, Sph. pseudotenerrimum, Sphenopteris taihuensis, Sublepidodendron mirabile etc. of the Wutung Series to a formation older than the Lower Carboniferous is impossible. The discovery of a typical lower Carboniferous species Lepidodendropsis hirmeri Lutz in the Wutung Series confirms also this view. The former conjecture that the age of the Wutungian of China is more or less equivalent to the Etroeungtian of Europe could probably be ruled out, since the Etroeungtian in Europe has been placed, as stated above, by many Carbon-geologists to the Uppermost Devonian in the Heerlen Congress. The composition of the Wutung Flora is also quite different from that of the Etroeungtian in Europe. The relation between a few Devonian fishes and the Wutung flora, however, remains to be a most fascinating problem; we may hope that more evidences will soon be forthcoming to show whether the occurrence of a few Devenian fishes in the Wutung Series could be regarded as residual remains of the Devonian forms in the lowermost Carboni ferous time. There is no adequate reason for supposing that this group of fishes which played a prominent part in the Devonian faunas was no longer in existence during the Lowermost Carboniferous era. Caution is, therefore, necessary in assigning a geological age to any beds solely on the ground of the presence of a few residual remains.