fossilised plants, and an invertebrate fauna. Diatomaceous earth exists at several places in Yezo. In the alluvium which covers all, the remains have been discovered of several species of elephant, which, according to Dr. Edmund Naumann, are of Indian origin. The most common eruptive rock is andesite. Such rocks as basalt, diorite, and trachyte are comparatively rare. Quartz porphyry, quartzless porphyry, and granite are largely developed.
The mineral most extensively worked in Japan is coal, large deposits of which exist in north-western Kyūshū and near Nagasaki in the south, and at Poronai and other places in Yezo at the northern extremity of the empire. Not only is the output sufficient to supply the wants of the country; foreign steamers largely use Japan coal, and considerable shipments are made all over the Far-East. The copper mines of Ashio near Nikkō, and of Besshi in Shikoku produce enormous quantities of copper, and the antimony production is among the most notable in the world. From the mine of Ichinokawa in Shikoku come the wonderful crystals of antimonite, which form such conspicuous objects in the mineralogical cabinets of Europe. There is a fair production of silver at Innai in the north and at Ikuno in Central Japan; but that of other metals is relatively small. The reports circulated from time to time of large discoveries of gold in Yezo have hitherto not been verified.
Books recommended. Die Kaiserliche Geologische Reichsanstalt von Japan, by T. Wada.—Ueber den Bau und die Entstehung der Japanischen Inseln, by E. Naumann.—Catalogue of Japanese Minerals contained in the Imperial College of Engineering, Tōkyō, by J. Milne.—Les Produits de la Nature Japonaise et Chinoise, by A. J. C. Geerts.—Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Japan.
Globe-trotters have been described, once for all, by Mr. Netto in a passage of his Papierschmetterlinge aus Japan, of which the following is a faithful translation:—
"Globe-trotter is the technical designation of a genus which, like the phylloxera and the Colorado beetle, had scarcely received any notice till recent times, but whose importance justifies us in
