the prefecture of Yamaguchi, which also includes the province of Suwō. To add to the perplexities of the foreign student, groups of provinces receive special names in popular and historical parlance. Such are, for instance, the Go-Kinai, or "Five Home Provinces," consisting of the Kyōto-Nara-Ōsaka district, the Kwantō which includes all the provinces of the East, the San-yōdō or "Sunny District," bordering the Inland Sea, and the San-indō or "Shady District," on the Sea of Japan. (See also Articles on Capital Cities, Population, Formosa, Luchu, and Yezo.)
Books recommended. Japan, by W. B. Mason, in "The International Geography."—Rein's Japan.—The China Sea Directory, Vol. IV.—Abbé Papinot's Dictionnaire de l'Histoire et de la Geographic du Japon.
Geology. It is popularly supposed that Japan entirely consists, or almost entirely consists, of volcanic rocks. Such a supposition is true for the Kurile Islands, partially true for the northern half of the Main Island and for Kyūshū. But for the remainder of the country, that is, the southern halt of the Main Island and Shikoku, the assumption is quite without support. The backbone of the country consists of primitive gneiss and schists. Amongst the latter, in Shikoku, there is an extremely interesting rock consisting largely of piedmontite. Overlying these amongst the Palaeozoic rocks, we meet in many partsof Japan with slates and other rocks possibly of Cambrian or Silurian age. Trilobites have been discovered in Rikuzen. Carboniferous rocks are represented by mountain masses of Fusulina and other lime stones. There is also amongst the Palaeozoic group an interesting series of red slates containing Radiolaria.
Mesozoic rocks are represented by slates containing Ammonites and Monolis, evidently of Triassic age, rocks containing Amtnoniles Bucklandi of Liassic age, a series of beds rich in plants of Jurassic age, and beds of Cretaceous age containing Trigonia and many other fossils. The Cainozoic or Tertiary system forms a fringe round the coasts of many portions of the empire. It chiefly consists of stratified volcanic tuffs rich in coal, lignite,
