Palaeontological Society of Japan

Transactions and Proceedings
of the
Palaeontological Society of Japan
New Series No. 100 Supplement
A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan
Edited by
MATSUMOTO, T.,
T. HAMADA, H. UJIIE and Y. TAKAYANAGI
(English editor: R. FUSEJIMA)
Palaeontological Society of Japan
June, 1976

Preface
At the annual meeting on January 25th, 1975, our Society decided to publish
"A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan" as No. 100 supplement of the
Transactions and Proceedings of the Palaeontological Society of japan, New Series, to
commemorate the continued activity of the Society since its foundation in 1935. This
has been materialized by cooperation of a number of contributors under the editorship
of a committee specially organized for this purpose. We are very happy to present
here this commemorative volume. On behalf of the Society we thank many of the
members who have given valuable suggestions and/or financial support to enable us
to publish this concise but memorial number 100s, and Honorary President Dr. Teiichi
KOBAYASHI and other contributors to the following chapters.
Apart from a short note entitled " List of fossil subgenera, genera and higher
taxa proposed through Japanese publications" compiled by T. HAN AI and K. KONISHI,
which appeared as an appendix to Geology of japan (TAKAI, MATSUMOTO and TORI­
YAMA, ed., 1963), the present publication is the first attempt of a comprehensive review
of the history of palaeontology in Japan written in a Western language. In view of
the great advancement in palaeontology and related sciences in recent years, the need
of retrospects and prospects is keenly felt in each field as well as in the interdisciplinary
domain. The present work has been intended to meet these requirements,
although each article is done as concisely as possible. Most of the references cited
in the articles are found in " Bibliography of Japanese Palaeontology and Related
Sciences, 1941-50; 1951-1960; 1961-1975" published in Palaeontological Society of japan,
Special Papers, No. 1 (1951), No. 9 (1962), and forthcoming issue (1977). For brevity
we omitted duplicate listing. It is our eager hope that the present publication may
serve for improvement and advancement in future palaeontological studies at home
and abroad.
Editors
\

2
and his chair was succeeded by Toyokichi
HARADA in 1885 through David
BRAUNS and Carl Christian GOTTSCHE.
BRAUNS, Geology of the Environs of Tokio
was printed in the i'vfemoirs of Science
Department, Tokio Daigalw1 (University),
No. 4, 1881. YOKOYAMA graduated
from the University in 1882 and
was appointed professor of palaeontology
in 1889 when his jurassic Plants from
Kaga, Hida and Echizen was published
through jour. Col!. Sci. Imp. Univ., vol.
3, part 1. In 1882 the Geological Survey
of Japan was established and in 1893 the
Geological Society of Tokyo (later Japan)
founded and published its journal. Thus
Tokyo was the center of education and
research in geology and palaeontology in
the Meiji era (1869-1912).
Products of this era were studies on
Mesozoic land plants and Jurassic marine
molluscs by YOKOYAMA, fossil echinoids
by YciSHIWARA (later TOKUNAGA), Desmostylus
by YOSHIWARA and IWASAKI,
Cretaceous ammonites by Y ABE, Tertiary
foraminifers, corals, bryozoans, gastropods
and Lithothamnium by NISHIWADA,
NEWTON and HOLLAND, Neogene pteropods
by YAM AKA W A and [W ASAKI and
so forth. Y ABE's Mesozoic plants and
Gigantopteris from Korea, 1905 and 1908
and YOKOYAMA's Mesozoic and Palaeozoic
plants from China, 1906 and 1908
were early contributions to the continental
palaeontology. YoKOYAMA's Climatic
Changes in japan since the Pliocene
Epoch, 1911 gave rise to a moot .discussion
in Japan and abroad.
Matajiro YOKOYAMA (1860-1942) devoted
much of his time from 1910 to 1932
to the studies on Tertiary and later molluscs
from various areas from Karafto
(Sakhalin) to Taiwan (Formosa) which
greatly urged the advancement of Caeno-
MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
zoic biostratigraphy of the festoon islands.
Because this series of his papers
is such an indispensable reference to
Tertiary students, its taxonomic revision
was carried out by MAKIY AMA, T AKI and
OYAMA in the light of recent conchology
in Special Papers of the Palaeontological
Society of Japan, Nos. 2 & 6, 1954 & 1959
and OYAMA's re-revision on the type specimens
from the Kanto area in Spec. Papers,
No. 17, 1973. Most of Japanese palaeontologists
are, needless to say, either his
direct pupils or indirect ones through
Y ABE, MAKIY AMA, 0ZA W A and others.
Therefore, to commemorate this progenitor
the Palaeontological Society of Japan
prepared its society medal with YOKO­
YAMA's relief and conferred it first to
Y ABE in the Twenty-fifth Anniversary
of the Society.
YOKOYAMA ·was an excellent writer of
popular science. His ·books propagated
palaeontology aud related sciences widely
in Japan. Many of technical terms and
taxonomic names of his version into
Chinese characters are internationally
used in the Orient. Early in 1891 he
published Japanese Text-book of Palaeontology1
in a concise form. Later he wrote
two standard hand-books with titles of
Prehistory of the World 2 (Historical Geology),
1918 and Elements of Palaeontology3,
1920. This work was succeeded
by 13 palaeontologists and Palaeontology
in 2 volumes was published in 1954 and
1957. Now Palaeontology is in the way
of complete revision by many authors
and 3 of 4 volumes appeared already in
1973-75. In short, it is not too' emphasizing
that the education and research
of Japanese palaeontologists were originated
from YOKOYAMA.
In 1912 the second geological institute
was established at the Tohoku Imperial

A Concise History of Palaeuntology in Japan 3
University. It was split into two institutes
in 1922, namely Institute of Geology
and Palaeontology and Institute of Mineralogy,
Petrology and Economic Geology.
For the establishment of the geological
institute Y ABE came to Sendai and conducted
education and research with his
colleagues forcefully and results were
published in Science Reports of the institute.
H. MATSUMOTO published many
papers on fossil mammals of Japan and
China in the early volumes (1915-30) of
this publication. It was an interesting
coincidence that this and Memoires Serv.
geol. l' Indochine, Hanoi were two equally
gigantic palaeontological publications in
Eastern Asia both started in 1912.
Hisakatsu Y ABE (1878-1969) is the other
important founder who set Japanese
palaeontology on the firm basis. His
works in the science are so numerous
and extensive that his papers are countless
and cover nearly every branch such
as foraminifers, corals, brachiopods, ammonites,
other molluscs, mammals, rockforming
algae, land plants and so forth.
Among them, however, he devoted particularly
to the ammonites, corals and
foraminifers. His contributions to the
geology of Japan and adjacent areas are
not the less important. Since 1925 he
had particular interest in the coral-reef
problem which has led him to visit many
south sea islands. It is of crucial importance
that he educated many leading
geologists and palaeontologists on one
side, while on the other he supported
scientific societies and activities. In fact,
the Palaeontological Society of Japan
would not have been founded so early
without his effort. He was not only
elected honorary member of many domestic
and foreign scientific societies but also
awarded Cultural Merits (1952) and Cultural
Medal (1953) from the Department
of the Imperial Household.
Until 1945 three more geological institutes
were established in the Imperial
Universities at Kyoto (1921), Sapporo
(1930) and Fukuoka (1939) in addition
to a few others in other universities.
Beside these institute publications a large
amount of palaeontological papers were
published in Proceedings of Imperial
Academy (1912-, later Proc. japan Acad.)
and japanese journal of Geology and Geography
which was primarily (1922) published
from the National Research Council
(1920-49) but from the Science Council
of Japan from 1949. It is a great
pity that the latter organization abandoned
in 1975 the publishing of this journal
( 45 vols.) together with some other
Japanese Journals, all internationally well
known.
Members of the Geological Society of
Japan were about 200 in 1910, but increased
to 900 in 1940. In 1935 the
Palaeontological Society of japan was
established as a section of the Geological
Society. Papers of the Palaeontological
Society were published in its section of
the other's journal and these reprints
were compiled under the title of Transactions
and Proceedings of the Palaeontological
Society of japan. The number
of its members was 283 at the beginning
among which were several biologists and
about 20 foreign members. They are
now 523 in total, about 10 percents being
foreign members. In 1957 the Society
became independent from the Geological
Society. Prior to this New Series of
Transactions and Proceedings and Special
Papers began to be published in 1951.
Subsequently in 1960 a journal in Japanese
named Kaseki or Fossils was added
to them.
From 1949 Japan entered the age of
many universities, and palaeontology has
been taught widely in the course of
geology or earth sciences. In 1962 a

4 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
palaeontological laboratory was set up
in the National Science Museum, Tokyo
which was primarily the Education Ministry
Museum, 1872.
As outlined above, thanks to European
scholars palaeontology as a science of
Natural History was imported to Japan
in the last quarter of last century and
studies on the fossils from the continent
were already commenced at the beginning
of this century. The Geological
Survey of Korea was instituted at Seoul
in 1918, Shanghai Science Institute in
1926, Geological Institute of Taihoku
(Taipei) University in 1928, Central Museum
at Changchung, Manchuria and
Tropical Industry Institute at Palau, both
in 1938.
On the continent RICHTHOFEN travelled
China extensively for four years from
1868. His China in 5 volumes was its
outcome which was the source book of
the primary importance for the geology
of Eastern Asia. Volumes 4 and 5 of China
contain various fossils described by
specialists. Subsequently, Loczy (1877-
1880), WILLIS and BLACKWELDER (1903),
J. Coggin BROWN (1907-11), J. DEPRAT
(1909) and others repeated geological reconnaissances
in China and their collections
greatly amplified our knowledge.
The Tokyo Geographic Society undertook
such a reconnaissance in central
and south China in 1911-1916. Y ABE and
HAYASAKA's Palaeontology of Southern
China, Reports of Geographic Research
in China, vo!. 3, 1920 include3 many
Palaeozoic fossils. In 1933 the First
Scientific Expedition to Manchuria was
carried out under the leadership of S.
TOKUNAGA. Its reports included 4 volumes
in geology and palaeontology.
During the following ten years or so
such scientific reconnaissances were repeated
to Manchuria, Inner Mongolia,
North China and other areas by Japanese
parties.
Among the palaeontological results
achieved on the continental side are the
studies on the Cambrian and Ordovician
faunas, Cathaysian flora (KAWASAKI and
KoN'No), non-marine Mesozoic fossils (K.
SuzuKI et a!.), discoveries of Silurian and
Devonian fossils (K. OZAKI et a!.), late
Pleistocene Dalainor skull with early
Mesolithic implements (R. ENDO, 1945),
exploration of contemporaneous remains
at Kushantun near Harbin and so forth.
On the Pacific side those are on larger
and smaller foraminifers, living and fossil
corals, a deep well in Kita Daito-jima
(North Borodino Island) and others.
In these 30 years our palaeontological
studies were made on the North Pacific
side (T. MATSUMOTO, KANNO et a!.) and
further in the Andean region on one side
and in Southeast Asia, Near and Middle
East and Africa on the other. Their results
are so far partly published. One
of them is Geology and Palaeontology of
Southeast Asia in 15 volumes (1962-)
which clarified Cambrian and later biostratigraphy
of the zone from Thailand
to the Philippines through the Malayan
Peninsula and Borneo. Amud (Neanderthal)
man (H. SUZUKI and TAKA!, 1970)
was found in Palestine by Tokyo University
Expedition toW estern Asia. 1961-
74. NAKAZAWA's party found Permian
relic brachiopods and pelecypods in the
lowest Skytic fauna in a continuous
Permo-Triassic section in Kashmir. Incidentally,
S. MATSUSHITA (1926) discovered
a productid in the Skytic Kurotaki
limestone, Shikoku Island, long ago.
Here a brief mention is added as to
the international co-operation through
IPU and other organizations. Japan has
participated early in the originating
meeting of the International Palaeontological
Union which was held at Cosmos
Club on the occasion of the XVI

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 5
International Geological Congress at
Washington, D.C., 1933. Since then our
palaeontologists and society always supported
IPU (now IPA) in various ways.
Its Asian Filial (now Regional branch)
meeting was held at Tokyo in 1965.
Japanese palaeontologists often cooperated
with the Pacific (formely Pan­
Pacific) Science Congress in its standing
committees on coral reef, correlation, etc.
or symposia, such as a symposium on
Tertiary Correlation and Climatic Changes
in the Pacific (ASANO, HAT AI), 1965, and
with the International Commission on
Stratigraphy, lUGS, formerly IGC, as
active members, in the compilation of
Lexique Stratigraphique International in
part of Asia, vol. 3 and Oceania, vol. 4
(HANZA w A) for example. So are they at
present with International Geological
Correlation Programme (IGCP). They
participated in many international conferences
and colloquia in geology and
biology insofar as they were related to
palaeontology.
I have written above the growth of
the palaeontological circle in Japan and
its national and international activities in
three ages of Tokyo, several universities
and many universities, although the later
the age, the shorter the statement. Now,
shall we see the aspects of the fossil
biota of Japan and her surroundings and
the achievements of our palaeontologists
through these ages.
Palaeontography or Descriptive Palaeontology:
As usual in natural history,
palaeontology of Japan started with descriptive
work. Catalogue of Type Specimens
of Fossils in japan, 1961 records
type specimens of 5856 species of plants
and animals from Japan, Korea, and
Manchuria beside some other areas which
were described mostly by japaneses but
partly by foreigners from 1888 to Sep-
tember, 1960. In its 360 pages 187 (90,
74, 22), 54 (28, 20), 38 (25, 11), 26, 24 (14,
9), 12 and 9 pages are occupied respectively
by Mollusca (Pelecypoda, Gastropoda,
Cephalopoda), Protozoa (Smaller
and larger Foraminifera), Planta (Vasculares,
Non-Vasculares), Coelenterata,
Arthropoda (Trilobita, Crustacea), Brachiopoda
and Vertebrata. The remainder
includes Echinodermata, Bryozoa, Porifera,
Annelida and Problematica. Roughly
a half of the species belongs to Mollusca
(a quarter to Pelecypoda), one-seventh to
Protozoa and one-tenth to Planta. In
other words, more than three-quarters of
them are objects of palaeoconchology,
micropalaeontology and palaeobotany.
This is an aspect of the above fossils.
HAY AMI's A Systematic Survey of the
Mesozoic Bivalvia from japan, 1975 contains
867 species which consist of 236
Triassic species, 247 Jurassic ones and
284 Cretaceous ones.
Mop.ographic works were already published
on fossil woods (SHIMAKURA,
1936), Proboscidea (MAKIY AMA, 1938),
Cenozoic brachiopods (HAT AI, 1940),
Tertiary smaller foraminifers (ASANO,
1950-52), Mesozoic corals (EGUCHI, 1951),
Upper Palaeozoic calcareous algae (R.
ENDO, 1951-61), Coralliaceae (ISHIJIMA,
1954), Permian and Carboniferous corals
(MINATO, 1955), Cretaceous foraminifers
(TAKA Y ANAGI, 1960), Palaeogene Mollusca
(OYAMA and MIZUNO, 1960), Jurassic ammonites
(SATO, 1962), echinoids (NISHI­
YAMA, 1966, 68), Lower Cretaceous pelecypods
(HAY AMI, 1965-66), Silurian trilobites
(KOBAYASHI and HAMADA, 1975)
and so forth. In addition there are Illustrated
Catalogue of East-Asiatic Fossil
Plants by OISHI, 1950, leones of Fossil
Plants from japanese Islands by S. ENDO,
1955, and Index Fossils of japan by SRI­
KAMA, 1964.
List of Fossil Subgenera, Genera and

6 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Higher Taxa proposed through japanese
Publications in Geology of japan, 1963
comprises 1249 taxa in total, including
1079 genera and subgenera (A) and 170
subfamilies and higher taxa (B). In A
group Mollusca occupies almost a half,
followed by Arthropoda (1/5), Coelenterata,
Protozoa, Brachiopoda, Vertebrata
and others. B group consists of 90 taxa
of Arthropoda, 41 of Mollusca, 11 of
Echinodermata and smaller numbers of
Coelenterata, Brachiopoda and Vertebrata.
It is noteworthy that Mollusca is, as in
the above species number, first in A
group and second in B group, but Arthropoda
is different. It is fifth in species
number, but second in A group and first
in B group. This means that Arthropoda
becomes proportionally larger in higher
taxa in the list whereas Mollusca is
largest or almost so in all of the three
groups.
HANAI and KONISHI (1963) outlined
systematic palaeontology in Japan. in a
very concise but well condensed form.
Histological studies on Araucarioxylon
Tankoense, Cyathocaulis naktongensis,
Cycadeoidella japonica, and many other
fossil woods were done by STOPES, Fum,
OGURA and other botanists. Metasequoia
MrKI, 1941 is a fossil genus still surviving
in China ; Tingiostachya KoN'No,
1929 is a cone with which Tingiales was
erected in the Articulatae ; Nilssoniaceae
was proposed with Nilssonocladus by Ta.
KIMURA and SEKIDO, 1975. Propilina is a
Monoplacophoran genus. Metanothosaurus
is an aquatic Triassic reptile; Manchrodon
a Pantotherian mammal from the
Jurassic of Manchuria (YABE and SHr­
KAMA, 1938); Nipponosaurus an Upper
Cretaceous ornithopod from Sakhalin
(NAGAO, 1936). They are only a few
genera among rare or conspicuous fossils.
lJIRI's histological study on Desmostylus'
teeth is a nice piece of work.
A copious Pleistocene fauna was described
from fissure deposits of Kuzuu,
Tochigi Prefecture (SHIKAMA, 1949).
Pleistocene Nipponoanthropus akashiensis
was collected from near Akashi, Hyogo
Pref. (NAORA, 1931). Additional human
bones of Palaeolithic age are known from
Mikkabi, Shizuoka Pref., Ushikawa. Aichi
Pref. and Iejima, Okinawa Pref. (TAKA!
and SUZUKI).
Palaeontography of the japanese fossil
biota is at present fairly well advanced
as to the leading groups, but much remains
to be done on some minor groups
or ill-preserved ones. Sponges, belemnites
and crinoids belong to such groups.
Studies on the Cirripedia, insects and
fishes are recently improving. Neither
graptolites nor cystoid is as yet uncovered
in Japan.
Classification, Phylogeny, Ontogeny and
Evolution: OzAwA's classification and
zonation of the Fusulinidae, 1925 were
later developed by Y ABE, HANZA W A,
FUJIMOTO, TORIY AMA, KANMERA, and
others. The family revision was carried
out further on the Polymorphidae (OzA­
WA, 1931), Dipteridaceae (OISHI and Huzr­
OKA, 1936), Halysitidae (HAMADA, 1957),
Waagenophyllidae (MINATO and KATO,
1965), Pteriidae (ICHIKAwA, 1958), Myophoriidae
(NAKAZAWA, TAMURA, et al.),
Trigoniidae (YEHARA, NAKANO, et al.),
Turritellidae (KOTAKA, 1959), Tertiary
Pectinidae (MASUDA, 1962), Cytherideidae
(HAN AI, 1959), Lycopteridae (TAKA!, 1943)
and other families of Tertiary foraminifers
and molluscs, Cretaceous ammonites,
older Palaeozoic trilobites and so forth.
Y ABE and SUGIYAMA have shown a
phyletic rejuvenescence of the Stromatoporoidea
in the Jurassic Torinosu sea.
In pointing out the deviation of the
Volborthellida from the principal lineage
of the Cephalopoda, the incipient diver-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 7
gence of Ordovician uncoiled nautiloids
was traced back to late Cambrian Plectronoceras
whose siphuncle was no.t holochoanoidal
(1935, 37) .. The final divergence
of late Mesozoic ammonites was,
on the other hand, explicitly illustrated
in Japan as the result of prolonged research
from YOKOYAMA to MATSUMOTO
through Y ABE, SHIMIZU, and others.
Nipponites is a classical example of the
most aberrant form indicating a terminal
specialization.
While K. SAITO (1936) discovered a
spheric protoconch of Hyolithes globiger,
ventro- and centrosiphonate types of
apical ends were distinguished among
Ordovician nautiloids (1937). HANAI
(1953) discovered a new structure called
primordial rostrum behind the protoconch
of Neohibolites miyakoensis. The
regular apical septation was found in
LO\ver Cambrian Helcionella and Hampilia.
Because the Proparia and Hypoparia
are polyphyletic, combination of biocharacters
was emphasized for the natural
classification of the Trilobita. The
Agnostida, Redlichida, Corynexochida
and Ptychopariida were recognized as
independent primary orders, because
they indicate four Lower Cambrian original
stocks. The ontogeny was clarified
of Blackwelderia quadrata (R. ENDO, 1935)
and Redlichia chinensis (KOBAYASHI and
F. KATO, 1951). HANAI (1951) has shown
parthenogenesis of " Cypris " subtriangularis
and sexual dimorphism of Cypridea
subvaldensis. HANZA WA (1964) discussed
polymorphogenesis of the Lepidocyclinidae
and Miogypsinidae.
MAKIYAMA (1924, 41) exemplified the
:volution of minor scale with Neogene
Umbonium and Siphonalia. Recently HA­
Y AMI (1975) unraveled population variation
of Pliocene-Pleistocene Cryptopecten
vesiculosus. Prior to this the time-relation
of W AAGEN's mutation to DE VRIES' mutation
(i.e. saltation) was elucidated by
means of zone-time (1944, 45). The
Glyptagnostus hemera was pointed out
to be the oldest world instant in the
Phanerozoic. eon (1949).
Biostratigraphy, Palaeogeography and
Palaeoecology: As indicated by SMITH's
second law of stratigraphy the rock
sequence of the Japanese islands was
extended back with the discoveries of
Lower Carboniferous, Devonian and
Silurian fossils respectively by I. HAYA­
SAKA (1922), Y ABE and M. NODA (1933)
and ONUKI (1937). The oldest so far
known is the copious Silurian fauna described
by SUGIYAMA (1940) and HAMADA
(1958). Ordovician ellesmereoceroids were
discovered in New Guinea (KOBAYASHI
and BURTON, 1971).
In the early days the geological age of
fo3sils, accordingly fossil beds, was determined
by direct comparison with European
fossils in the classical sequence.
Therefore YEHARA's division of Cretaceous
rocks by means of Japanese trigoniae.
(1923) bears extraordinary importance
in the sense of natural division of
rock sequence with reference to vertical
and horizontal distribution of indigenous
fossils. The bio3tratigraphic classification
was considerably improved by MATSU­
MOTO's intensive studies on Cretaceous
rocks and contained ammonites and Inoceramus
in which the latter NAGAO cooperated.
The Cretaceous system would
be most advanced in fossil zonation in
Japan. It is divided into six series and
twelve stages. Many life zones were
distinguished in three groups of ammonites,
namely, the Desmocerataceae, (1),
Acanthocerataceae, Hoplitaceae, etc., (2)
and Heteromorpha and Lytocerataceae (3)
beside inocerami. The whole sequence
of the system was correlated with the

8
classical standard in Europe and the
Cretaceous sequences of the Tethyan
and Pacific areas in detail.
Of the provincialization it is noteworthy
that the Phanerozoic biosphere began
with three provinces, namely the Olenellian,
Redlichian and intermediate provinces
where the last connected the two
others (1971, 1972). The biostratigraphy
in Eastern Asia bears great importance
for the interprovincial correlation and
the system boundary, the Ozarkian problem
for example (1934).
The history of land plants is well
documented in Japan and her adjacence
from Devonian (TACHIBANA, 1950) onward.
The northeastern limit of the
Cathaysian phytogeographic province is
marked by the Kaishantun flora at the
southeastern corner of Manchuria (KON­
NO, 1969). Its expansion into the Japanese
islands was confirmed by ASAMA
in the Abukuma and Kitakami mountains.
It was thoroughly proven in the Upper
Triassic paralic sequence by marine
faunas that the so-called Rhaeto-Liassic
flora by OISHI and others appeared in
Japan already in the Carnic epoch (1939).
Subsequently Carnic and Noric plants and
their fructifications were described from
West Japan (KoN'No). The climatic fluctuation
in Japan and Eastern Asia during
the Mesozoic periods was analyzed with
land plants by the change of their composition.
CHANEY, T ANAl and other Japanese
palaeobotanists studied Tertiary
plants in many areas in the islands from
1958 to 1972 and considerably clarified
the floral change during the Tertiary
period and the problem on the ancestors
and descents of the Miocene forest in
the Pacific area.
Four suite3 of non-marine Mesozoic
faunas were distinguished in Eastern
Asia through studies on molluscs, fishes
and others. One of them was the Con-
MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
chostraca. As the result of its extensive
revision it was found that the center of
its distribution in Eurasia shifted from
the west in the Palaeozoic to the east in
the Mesozoic era in accordance with
continental growth by orogenies (1954,
75). The extensive distribution of Trigonioides
and its allies in the Cretaceous
formations in Asia and similar shells in
North Africa and western North America
casts a question on their origin and
migration. The land connection of the
islands with the continent was discussed
with mammals by Y ABE (1929) and others.
As done by SHUTO, CHINZEI and many
others, palaeoecological and biostratonomical
studies were carried out with
various materials in different ways to
decipher the bio-, thanato- and fossilhistory
which fossils and fossil associations
bear. An interpretation was given
on diatom thanatocoenosis from the
North Pacific (KANAYA and KOIZUMI,
1966). Some interesting studies were
done on trace fossils and problematica.
Deformation of Triassic ammonites was
discussed by MAKIY AMA (1942) and defossilization
in Radiolarian rocks by Ko­
BAYASHI and To. KIMURA (1944).
Palynology (S. TOKUNAGA, K. TAKA­
HASH!, et al.) and nannoplankton studies
became very active in last two or three
decades. ASANO, TAKAYANAGI, UJIIE, et
al. demonstrated the stratigraphic significance
of planktonic foraminifers. Conodont
studies by leo and others from 1963
have shown much of Triassic sediments
included within the Upper Palaeozoic
formations of previous reference.
C. TSUBOI and HIRATA (1935) reported
the increasing tendency, from Recent to
Miocene, of the angle of the long axis
of aragonite fibres with the C-axis of
aragonite crystals in the shell of Glycymeris
yessoensis. In recent years
new techniques, biochemical, radiometric,

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 9
palaeomagnetic and mathematical, or by
means of a scanning electron microscope,
X-ray microanalyser, an electronic computer
or else were applied to p::llaeontological
and related investigations in Japan
as in other countries. Ultramicrostructures
of various fossils were observed
and their palaeobiochemical analyses
made (HONJO, AKIYAMA, I. KOBAYASHI,
et al.); biometric studies done with molluscs,
larger foraminifers and others
(OBATA, HAYAMI, UJIIE, MATSUMARU).
Colloquia were thrice repeated recently
on isotopes in hard tissues of fossils
(KONISHI, TAKAYANAGI).
Finally, a mention is added that KOBA­
YASHI (1946) elucidated the relationship
of documents to synthesis in palaeontology
and historical geology. Subsequently
IJIRI (1949) discussed method and
cognition in palaeontology.
For palaeontological literature of Japan
the reader is referred to Bibliography of
japanese Palaeontology and Related Sciences,
1941-50 and 1951-60 compiled by
R. ENDO and TAKA! and printed in the
Palaeontological Society of Japan, Special
Papers, Number 1 (1951) and 9 (1962),
respectively. Bibliography of japanese
Palaeontology, 1961-75 is now in preparation.
He can trace them back further
through Titles and Abstracts, in japanese
journal of Gzology and Geography, 45
vols. 1922-75 and Index to the journal,
vols. 1-20 (1955), 21-25 (1960), 26-30 (1961),
31-35 (1968), 36-41 (1972) and 42-45 (1975)
and with Bibliography of History of japanese
Earth Sciences, compiled by the
Committee for History of japanese Earth
Sciences, Tokyo Geographical Society
and to be published through journal of
Geography, Tokyo.
Summary: Retrospect and Prospect: The
above history of palaeontology in Japan
is no more than a general view. Palaeon-
tology was proposed almost simultaneously
by Ducrotary DE 8LAINVILLE
and Fischer VON W ALDHEIM (1834). This
history of education and research is
what happened in japan in the later
two-thirds of the time length since the
proposal. It is divisible into three ages
and the research achievements into three
fields, systematic, palaeobiological and
biostratigraphical. In this article more
weight was laid in the older age and in
the achievements on the international
bearing rather than local interest. The
reader will, however, find in the succeeding
articles detailed informations including
those which were omitted because of
page restriction. Regrettably I feel that
allocated time was too short for such a
topic, although I have endeavored to
meet the society's request.
Palaeontography is the prerequisite for
palaeobiology. The systematic description
of the fossil biota in Japan advanced
slowly at the beginning, but the Meiji
palaeontology is astonishing for me in
that it was about a dozen of years to
absorb the western palaeontology so
much that Meiji palaeontologists could
develop their science principally by
themselves thereafter. It was considerably
accelerated in the Showa era (1926-)
through the Taisho intermezzo (1912-26).
The basic work of this kind was done
also on the continental side as well as
on the south sea side until1945 and later
in Southeast Asia and further beyond and
in some Pacific areas. In consequence the
achievements bore a perspective aspect.
Two notable points in the Showa palaeontology
were that fossils were touch stones
for the existing palaeontology and that
biostratigraphic facts were oriented from
the global standpoint for high synthesis.
These viewpoints combined have enabled
any fundamental and international contributions
for Showa palaeontologists.

to MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
The purpose of our work was at the
beginning to establish the stratigraphic
sequence of Japan and then that of adjacent
areas. This trend of research required
the accuracy of zonation on one
side and the interprovincial correlation
on the other. At the same time it developed
into palaeoecology, biostratonomy,
p::tlaeogeography, p.1laeoclimatology
and so forth.
Fossils are essential documents of
evolution. Therefore the evolution and
the vicissitude of the biosphere in the
Phanerozoic eon are two principal subjects
of palaeontology. Phylogeny and
ontogeny of some fossils were clarified
as much as suitable materials were available.
Some new structures were discovered
and new classifications of certain
families and higher categories proposed.
The migration, dispersal, provincialization,
rise and fall of plants and animals
Japanese culture of today was developed,
for the greater part, during the
Edo period that lasted 265 years until
the Meiji era began, mainly owing to the
national isolation without disturbances
by war. The culture bred up under
such circumstances attached great importance
to subjective contemplation and
sense of beauty. The society that fostered
the culture rejected logicality as a
mere argumentative or unrefined way of
thinking. Thus the Japanese society of
the Edo period lacked the ground for
* Department of Paleontology, National
Science Museum, Tokyo.
Paleontology and Society of Japan
Hiroshi U JIIE*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
were investigated on certain groups with
reference to geographic and climatic
changes and other factors.
These studies shared the advancement
of palaeontology and related sciences in
part of the Asian and Pacific sides with
the effect that it reduced the unbalance
in our knowledge between these sides
and the European-Atlantic side to some
extent. Therefore it may be said that
it advanced an important step toward
the creation of a complete world statue
of palaeontology. The method of palaeontology,
however, has been conventional
during several decades, although there
were minor devices and some ameriolations.
Recently new techniques are
affording previously unavailable data.
Therefore, future development is promising,
as traditional palaeontology will
tie up with new palaeontology in researches
and syntheses.
presentation of objective views of things
or systematization of the results of observation,
and so the development of the
science of natural history was much
hampered. The Edo people esteemed
natural objects highly only when those
were beautiful or extraordinary, and the
hobby of collecting rare objects prevailed.
Among the collectors known as " stonelovers
" was Sekitei KIUCHI who made
corect sketches of stones and presented
his views on their origin (1773-1801).
But KIUCHI was an exceptional case of
amateur collectors.
On the other hand, some branches of
learning attained a high level, as repre-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 11
sented by Wasan (the mtive mathematics
of Japan) which was developed for practical
p'.lrposes. However, practic:1l use of
technical le1rning was circumscribed
within certain professions which were
again restricted by the hereditary system.
Accordingly, the accumulated knowledge
was transmitted only from father to son
or fro:n teacher to disciple, and was seldom
allowed to spread beyond the closed
circle. Without sufficient communication
true science could not be developed.
Mining was a matter of primary concern
of the Edo government, and it accelerated
practical application of technical
knowledge. Toward the end of the
Edo period when the country was prepared
to be opened to foreign intercourse,
there rose a trend to absorb Western
learning. Genpo MITSUKURI, who was
on the staff of the Foreign Documents
Survey under the government administration,
wrote a number of books introducing
Western civilization to Japan.
His works included " Chishitsu Bensho "
(Dialectic Geology) (1861) and two other
handbooks of geology. Nevertheless, he
contributed little to the development of
geological sciences in Japan, because
most of his books were in manuscript,
which prevented wide circulation, and
his knowledge did not go beyond translation
of literatures.
During this period, foreigners began to
come to Japan. Some of them collected
animal and plant specimens and fossils
to be studied in their own countries, but
the results of their study were seemingly
insignificant from the world-wide view
since people's interest was aroused in
the fact that the specimens came from
" Gipang ", the land of dreams.
In 1868 the Meiji government was
born, and the nation-wide modernization
started. It was strongly felt that Japan
at that time was behindhand in modern
industries. The waves of colonialism of
the Western Powers were invading the
coasts of the Oriental countries. Under
such circumstances, exploitation of underground
resources was a matter of urgent
necessity for Jap:ln. To meet the national
demands, the government invited experts
from foreign countries, such as
B. S. LYMAN from America in 1872 and
E. NAUMANN from Germany in 1875.
These foreigners fulfilled their duties in
surveying underground resources, but at
the same time they endeavored to bring
up their successors among Japanese.
Particul3.rly notable were the achievements
of NAUMANN, who taught geology
at the Tokyo Imperial University since
1877 when the Institute of Geology was
established in the Faculty of Science.
He also helped founding in 1878 the
Geology Section (later Geological Survey
of Japan) under the Bureau of Geography
belonging to the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
During the early part of the Meiji era,
foreign teachers and technical experts
took the lead in geology and paleontology,
but after 1894 the graduates of
the Tokyo Imperial University and the
persons who finished their studies abroad
began to take phce of these foreigners.
It was fortunate th:1t the Japanese forerunners
in geology and paleontology
made efforts in raising the level of learning
and educating students, without
seeking fame or prominent post. In the
meantime, Institute of Geology was
set up in seven univenities, from the
Tohoku Imperial University (1911) to the
Hiroshima University of Science and
Literature (1943). Well-trained paleontologists
were assigned to these institutes
to teach paleontology. It was a most
steadfact development for those days, if
we recollect the postwar period when
rapidly increased universities have suf-

12 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
fered from shortage of good teachers
until quite recently.
Along with the progress of modernization
of nation!!.! constitution, Japan
began to extend her territory over the .
neighboring regions, and this inevitably
gave rise to geological survey organs
and corresponding agencies, as exemplified
by the Geology Section (hter Manchoukuo
Geological Survey) that was
established in 1907 in the South Manchurian
Railway Company after the termination
of the Russo-Japanese War
(1905), and the Geological Survey set up
in 1918 in the Government-General of
Korea after the Japan-Korea amalgamation
was enacted (1910).
Apart from the political problems,
geological and paleontological know:Iedge
gained from these regions was of great
value, especially with regard to Mesozoic
and Paleozoic eras. To the Japanese geologists
and paleontologists the data on
the Chinese continent were indispensable.
The results of their research activities,
keeping out of politics, are classics still
useful to this day. In comparison with
the above-mentioned period, the later
times that were marked with the outbreak
of the China Incident in 1937 and
the outset of the Pacific War in 1941
produced little noticeable results in spite
of the fact that a great many geologists
and. paleontologists traveled all over the
Cl1jnese continent and Southeast Asia,
carrying out field work and collecting
specimens to be brought back to Japan
for study. The poor results can be
attributed largely to the national policy
of those days demanding urgent exploitation
of underground resources, as well
as to the worsened economy due to the
long-continued wartime, but the scholars
and the academic society may have been
partially responsible for the consequences.
In 1945 Japan had her first experience
of a lost battle, and during the succeeding
several years the country was to3sed
about by inflation and a surge of the
social system reform.
The Association of Democratic Scientists
was established in 1946, and the next
year saw the inauguration of the Association
for Geological Collaboration which
thereafter took the lead in innovation of
geologists circles in Japan. The Association's
activities contributed greatly to
equalization of opportunities and to destruction
of sectionalism among research
bodies, but on the other hand they incurred
antagonism with competent but
conservative groups. With the passage
of the last thirty years, however, the
left-wingers and the right-wingers are
seemingly advancing toward reunion.
After the several years of postwar
disorder wore away, publishing circumstances
improved. A number of textbooks
began to be published, and academic
journals were reissued or newly published.
The Transactions and Proceedings
of the Palaeontological Society of
Japan was separated from the Journal of
the Geological Society of Japan in 1951
to make a start as New Series.
Economy of Japan became prosperous
owing to the special procurement boom
caused by the Korean war that broke out
in 1950. In 1959 the balance of the Bank
of Japan notes exceeded 1,000,000,000,000
yen, and Japan entered into the age of
high growth of economy. In the same
year, the liberalization of dollar exchange
came into effect, and in 1960 foreign
trade and international exchange were
liberalized. These circumstances were
greatly favorable to international conferences
and cooperative researches that
were beginning to take place. Japanese
geologists and paleontologists to be dispatched
for, or participate in, inter-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 13
national scientific activities abroad increased
year after year, and overseas
survey parties were sent out. From 1963,
the Ministry of Education compiled a
budget to defray funds for overseas researches.
Thus, the " Paleontological
Studies of Southeast Asia" that had been
financed by nongovernmental sources
came to receive government support
since 1964. The purposes of these overseas
survey parties were entirely academic,
differing from the wartime precedents,
and in most cases the survey
work was performed in collaboration
with the native organs, and so considerable
results have been gained and reported.
It must be noted, however, an
upsurge of nationalism of the country to
be surveyed is striking these days, and
it is often the case that dispatch of easygoing
survey teams is rejected under the
pretext of underground resources protection
or nature conservation. Review of
the history of Japanese paleontology may
be of a help toward true international
cooperative survey and study.
Among the geological sciences in Japan,
paleontology has been taking the most
academic course. With the introduction
of various kinds of analytical equipment,
microscope and computer in the 1960's,
Japanese paleontology seemed to advance
toward paleobiology and paleophysiology,
but in broad perspective the effect of
social changes on paleontology was remarkable.
In order to make the effect
more positive, we need to extend such
fields as biostratigraphy and paleoecology,
and develop practical application of them.
Paleontology, originated as a branch of
geology, cannot be expected to cultivate
and develop its basic fields without a
pipeline of application. In this connection,
we must look straight at the fact
that the Geological Survey of Japan,
staffed with more than 500 geologists,
comprises no section of paleontology,
and that no micropaleontologist is on
the staff of any marine research institutions
in this country.
Supplement : Brief Review of the Transactions
and Proceedings (New Series) of
the Palaeontological Society of Japan.
The Palaeontological Society of Japan,
that had started in 1935 as a section of
the Geological Society of Japan and had
been publishing the papers of its members
in limited pages of the Journal of
the latter Society, came to issue a journal
of its own, entitled Transactions and
Proceedings, New Series (quarterly), from
1951 on. This was due to the stabilized
Japanese economy after the war, as well
as to the increase in its members (514).
Animated publication of academic journals
was a universal phenomenon of
those days; for example, Bulletin of
the British Museum (Natural History),
Geology (the first issue in 1949), Neues
Jahrbuch fiir Geologie und PaHi.ontologie
(1950), Vaprosy Paleontologii (1950), Revista
Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigratia
(1952), Senckenbergiana Lethaea
(1954) and Micropaleontology (1955),
which are enjoying worldwide fame now,
made their first appearance one after
another in those days.
For the last 25 years, publication of
the journal was continued through the
efforts of many scholars and senior researchers
including those who had already
passed away, and the journal has
come to be known internationally, as
evidenced by the fact that about onethird
of the subscribers are persons and
institutions of foreign nationals. At this
point of time it may be worthwhile to
review the contents of the journal to
provide for future growth (refer to
Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 shows the changes in the relative

14 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
YEARS
.j
frequency of the articles printed in the
journal during the period from 1951 to
1975, with two years as the time unit
(which is also the unit used in numbering
and indexing text pages and plates).
According to the figure, fusulinids (denoted
by Fu), Paleozoic molluscs (pM)
and Mesozoic molluscs (mM) excluding
ammonites hold constant, though small,
ratios. On the other hand, Cenozoic
molluscs (eM) and larger fossil plants
(PI, mostly leaves), which used to account
for large proportions, are decreasing
lately; this may be explained by that
the methods of study of these branches
which had experienced a long history of
OJMMULATIVE PERCENT NO. of ARTICLES
Fig. 1.
research are too classical for the articles
to be duly evaluated. The same tendency
is noticed throughout the world. Vertebrates
(V) also show a similar trend but
it is probably due to the limited occurrence
of fossil vertebrates in Japan and
to the scantiness of vertebrate paleontologists.
The ratios of corals (C),
brachiopods (B) and trilobites (T) have
been rather constant, although the number
of articles is small, on account of
limited occurrence of specimens. More
sporadic ·are the articles on arthropods
(A) excluding trilobites.
Now, our interest is aroused in the
fields whose vicisitudes reflect the epi-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 15
sodes in the history of science. In the
field of Foraminifera (Fo), Kiyoshi ASANO
and a few others contributed the articles
in the early stage, and then there came
a period of a remarkable decline between
1956 and 1960. After that, younger researchers
began to write articles from
various points of view until 1970, but the
young power turned apparently inactive
when it became plain that for the foraminiferal
study up-to-date international
information on planktonics and new technique
for benthonics are requisite. Also
in the field of Bryozoa (Bry), study of
which was started in 1957, articles were
very few between 1967 and 1969, although
it was due to personal reasons on the
part of researchers who were no more
than two in number.
On ammonites (Am), the lack of articles
from 1958 to 1962 is ascribed to
private circumstances of Tatsuro MATS U­
MOTO who was the major contributor,
but from 1962 on MATSUMOTO and his
students, and also Yuji BANDO who dealt
with Triassic ammonites, published their
results in succession. Especially the biometric
approach attempted by Ikuwo
OBATA and Kazushige TANABE is worthy
of notice.
Study of conodonts (Cn) became active
since MULLER visited japan and disclosed
their occurrence, but few articles have
appeared in the journal, whereas in
foreign countries monographs are being
published successively. As conodonts
are very important for the study of Japanese
late Paleozoic to Triassic Systems,
much expectations are laid on further
progress in this field.
Microfossil plants (MP1, excluding pol-
len and spore) were represented until
1960 by the works of Haruo OKUNO who
studied microstructures of fossil diatoms
by means of electron microscope. From
1969 after a conspicuous gap, articles
began to appear but the subjects are
entirely different from the previous ones
and moved to the biostratigraphy.
One of the greatest missions of paleontology
would be contribution to the comprehensive
earth sciences through biostratigraphic
studies. With regard to
this point, articles on micropaleontology
dealing with pollen, spore (Po) and other
microfossils would naturally require wide
space for listing the specimens that are
found in great numbers. Other fields
than micropaleontology also need enough
space for geologic maps to indicate
occurrence in time and space of the
materials dealt with. In this connection,
the journal has hitherto failed to offer
sufficient space for reporting the results
of studies. Since 1963, the limited number
of pages for each article was increased
from 12 to 24, and the number
of plate from 1 to 2. As a result, the
number of articles to be printed was reduced
(see the numerals on the right
column in Fig. 1), but it is a fact that
the subjects became manifold and the
level of articles rose. A prize for the
best paper published in the Transcations
is also stimulating contributors since
1966.
Constant efforts are desired for the
improvement of the journal so that it
can print not only the representative
articles on paleontology in japan but
also a number of excellent reports from
abroad.

16 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Fusulinaceans : The first study of Japanese
Paleozoic microfossils goes as far
back as the introduction of Fusulina japo.
nica by W. GUMBEL (1874), which started
the dawning of the research activities by
foreigners such as C. SCHWAGER (1883)
and J. DEPRA T (1914). Hisakatsu Y ABE
took the initiative in the study of fusulinaceans
also, and reported his results in
1899, 1902, 1903 and 1906. The proposal
of the genus Neoschwagerina in 1903
came from his very far-sightedness.
lchiro HAY AS AKA (1924) published his
study on the Omi Limestone and described
fusulinaceans contained therein.
Roughly simultaneously with HAY ASAKA's
work, distinguished•· reports by Yoshiaki
OzAwA (1925, 1927; -etc.) on the Akiyoshi
and Akasaka Limestones were published
and attracted universal attention. Fusulinaceans
of Indochina were studied by
COLAN! (1924) and those of North China
by LEE (1927), and the both works were
published in bulky volumes. Their results,
along with the series of OzAwA's
work, made a long step forward in the
researches on fusulinaceans of Eastern
Asia in the 1920's.
In the 1930's the researches by DUN­
BAR of North America and RAUSER­
CHERNOUSSOVA of USSR made progress,
while Shoshiro HANZA w A, Haruyoshi
FUJIMOTO [ =HuziMOTO] and others of
Japan were actively working. Y ABE and
HANZAWA (1932) announced their new
view on the classification of fusulinaceans
and proposed the genus Pseudodoliolina.
* Institute of Geoscience, The University
of Tsukuba.
Paleozoic Microfossils
Hisayoshi !Go*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
FUJIMOTO (1936) published an excellent
report on the fossils from the Kanto
mountains. A paper by HANZAWA (1938)
on Nipponitella created a sensation among
the fusulinacean researchers of the world.
His work (HANZA w A, 1938) on Pseudoschwagerina
and Zellia was important as
well, and initiated the discussion of the
Carboniferous-Permian boundary problem.
As the time lapsed into the 1940's,
Ryiizo ToRrY AMA took part in the research
on fusulinaceans and described
specimens from the Yasuba Conglomerate
and other formations (TORIY AMA, 1942,
etc.). HANZA WA (1941) discussed the
Carboniferous-Permian boundary in Japan,
Korea and Manchuria, attaching importance
to the absence of the Triticites
zone. His description of Parafusulina
yabei is, though brief, one of the eminent
papers.
Soon after the termination of W or!d
War II, study of fusulinaceans in Japan
began to flourish, having been reinforced
with young and energetic researchers.
The postwar researches were based on
a detailed stratigraphic study in the field,
entirely different from the method of
prewar time. Especially noticeable among
the numerous researches are the following:
TORIY AMA (1954, 1958, etc.) made an
exhaustive study of the Akiyoshi Limestone,
and added new information to the
knowledge of the geologic structure of
the region since the works of OzAwA
and Teiichi KOBA Y ASH!. At the same
time, he established detailed fossil zones,
among which the Profusulinella zone was

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 17
recognized for the first time in Japan.
in 1958, TORIY AMA's work on fusulinaceans
was published in a bulky book of
264 pages and 48 plates. In the latter
half of the 1960's TORIY AMA and his
collaborators worked on fusulinaceans
of Thailand. In 1967, TORIYAMA summarized
the fusulinacean zones of Japan.
From the 1950's to the first half of the
1960's, a large number of distinguished
reports by Kametoshi KANMERA were
published. He is known for his scrupulous
descriptions of fusulinaceans and
conscientious preparation of plates. Since
1952 he published, in succession, the results
of his studies of the Yayamadake
Limestone, the Kuma Formation and the
Kosaki Formation. These reports, including
the paper published in 1959, on
the evolution of Neoschwagerininae; are
notable as they raised new problems on
the Upper Paleozoic stratigraphy and
fusulinacean zones of Japan. The Fusulina,
Triticites and Pseudoschwagerina
zones, as well as the Kuriki Series and
the Hikawa Series, all proposed by KAN­
MERA, still serve as the standard stratigraphic
units. The study of the Sakamotozawa
Limestone by KANMERA and
MIKAMI (1965) was remarkable in that it
revealed details of litho-facies variation
of the limestone and the occurrence of
fusulinaceans.
Roughly contemporaneous with KAN­
MERA, Ken'ichi ISHII made a new epoch
in the study of the Japanese Carboniferous
fusulinaceans on the basis of his
researches on the Itatorigawa Group of
Shikoku. He scrutinized the postwar
papers by Soviet researchers, which were
gradually becoming available in those
days, and he re-examined genus Fusulina
and revived genus Beedeina. His papers
published during a period from 1955 to
1962 brought forward some new ideas
about the evolution of fusulinaceans.
During the same period, there were a
series of works by Rokuro MORIKAwA
who developed the "sump" method for examining
specimens, free from the microscopic
observation of thin sections, and
made a unique classification (1955, 1958,
etc.). It is regrettable that he died before
the completion of his study with
"Solidgraph" (1962), into which all his
energy was put forth.
Hisayoshi IGO (1956, 1957, etc.) published
the result of his study of the Ichinotani
Group, which revealed the almost
perfect succession of the Millerella, Profusulinella,
Fusulinella, Fusulina, Triticites
and Pseudoschwagerina zones. Later,
IGO (1964, 1965, etc.) studied the Nyukawa
Group and considered the relationship
between the litho-facies and the
occurrence of fusulinaceans. In recent
years, he has been proceeding with the
study of fusulinaceans of Thailand and
Malaysia (IGo, 1972, etc.).
Yasuo NoGAMI (1961) published the
result of his detailed study of fusulinaceans
from Atetsu-dai. In 1965 he reexamined
the original specimens previously
described by SCHWAGER. With
the successive studies of fusulinaceans
in the Taishaku-dai Limeatone (Kimiyoshi
SADA, 1961, 1963, etc.), the foasil faunas
of limestones in the Inner Zone of Southwest
Japan were clarified to a considerable
extent. Reports by Susumu HONJO
(1959, 1960) and Masao MINATO and HoN-·
JO (1959, 1965) are worthy of notice in
that they introduced new viewpoints in
the study of fusulinaceans. They used
enlarged photographs of Neoschwagerina,
etc. for the plates, and examined the
details of development of septula and
other features.
During the period of 1950's to 1960's
more results were published ; important
ones among them were the works of
Michihiro KAWANO (1961) on Yamaguchi

18 MATSUMQTO,. T. r?t al., edit.:
Prefecture, Manabu KOBA Y ASH! (1957) on
lbukiyama, Mosaburo KANUMA (1958-
1960) on the Mino mountainland, Shigeo
SAKAGUCHI (1963) on Tamba, Kazumi
SuY ARI (1961, 1962) on Tokushima Prefecture.
Kunihiro lSH!ZAKI (1962) on Kochi
and Ehime Prefectures, Takeshi CHI­
SAKA (1960, etc.) on the Kitakami mountainland,
Yoshinari T AKAOKA (1960) on
the Kanto mountainland, Shigema KAWA­
DA (1954. etc.) on the Omi Limestone,
and Masafumi MURATA (1961) on Akiyoshi-dai.
Other noticeable results were;
the consideration on individual growth
of Pseudoschwagerina by Saburo AKAGI
(1958), the report by Atsushi ISHII and
Hajime TAKAHASHI (1960) on Paradoxiella,
the study of the southern Kanto
mountainland by SAKAGAMI (1957, etc.),
the report on Mesoschubertella by SAKA­
GAMI and KANUMA, the report on Vetbeekina
by Tomomitsu SuGr (1960), the
o;:currence of Fusulina from Hida and
other studies by Kenji KoNISHI (1952, etc.)
and the study of the lse-Shima district
by Nobuo Y AMAGIW A (1956, etc.).
In the meantime, the scholar3 who had
been active in the prewar day3 published
some important studies and theories by
making effective use of their wide experience,
and thus gave an impetus to
young researchers. Y ABE (1949) was the
first to point out the existence of the
Millerella zone, and on many occasions,
from 1964 to 1966, he discussed the
problem of Lepidolina and the Carboniferous-Permian
boundary. HANZA WA
(1949) proposed Acervoschwagerina, and
in 1950 and 1954 he published interesting
papers on Eoverbeekina and Afghanella.
In 1963, collaborating with MuRATA, he
published a paper as a warning against
too much circumstantial classification of
fossils, citing instances of Neoschwagerina,
etc. FUJIMOTO assisted by !GO
proposed the genus Hidaella in 1955, and
summarized the fusulinacean zones of the
Carboniferous System (1958).
The study of fusulinaceans in japan
seemed to pass the peak since the end
of 1960's, and TORIY AMA, KANMERA, !GO
and Ken'ichi ISHII moved the focus of
their researches into Southeast Asia.
Nevertheless, Tomowo OzAWA (1967, 1970,
1975, etc.) continued to publish the results
of his outstanding work and established
a new way of •.learning supplemented by
statistics. His study of Pseudofusulinella
and his comments on the evolution of
Verbeekinoidea are worthy of special
mention, as are his excellent work on
Lepidolina multiseptata and its evolutional
change. Of late, the achievements of
younger researchers, including the works
of Dong Ryong CHOI (1975, etc.) on the
Kitakami mountainland, of Fumio KOBA­
Y ASH! (1973) on the Nagaiwa Formation,
and of Kozo WATANABE (1974) on the
Omi Limestone, haye been published and
great hopes are placed on their future
efforts. The fusulinacean researches in
Japan are far from complete yet, as there
remain many fields to be investigated
and not a few problems concerning paleoecology
and evolution are still unsolved.
Smaller foraminifers : Late Paleozoic
limestones of japan contain abundant
smaller foraminifers associated with fusulinaceans.
Nevertheless, the study of
these foraminifers was very slow to start.
0ZA WA (1925, 1927) and FUJIMOTO (1936)
were the pioneers in this branch of science.
Yuji OKIMURA studied the Atetsu
Limestone and other Carboniferous limestones
in various parts of the country
(1958, 1965, etc.) and brought forth a lot
of new information. His earlier theory
on Paleozoic chronology, though not sufficiently
circumspect, should be rated
high in respect that he set his hand to
a difficult task. Future development of
his work is expected.

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 19
Radiolarians: The study of Paleozoic
radiolarians was commenced by FuJI­
MOTO (1938) with an intention to clarify
the geologic age of cherts which are
commonly found in the Mesozoic and
Paleozoic Systems of Japan. His study
developed into the discussion of the age
of the Sanbagawa crystalline schist. He
maintained that Paleozoic radiolarians
can be discriminated from Mesozoic ones
by the percentage of Cyrtoidea. His view
was opposed by Teiichi KOBA Y ASH! and
Toshio KIMURA (1944) and KIMURA (1944),
and this gave rise to an active controversy
in the academic world. Koichiro
ICHIKAwA (1950) worked on the radiolarians
of the southern Kanto mountainland,
and his age-determination has
proved correct in view of the present
knowledge of conodonts. Researches on
radiolarians of both Mesozoic and Paleozoic
are very important and future
progress is expected.
Ostracods : Researches on Paleozoic ostracods
are much behindhand in Japan.
There are the work of Takashi HAMADA
(1959) and the serial studies by Kunihiro
IsHIZAKI (1963, etc.). Further development
of this branch is anticipated as the
material for study is fairly abundant.
Conodonts : The history of researches
on conodonts is still very young in Japan.
It began with the work of IGO and Toshio
KOIKE (1963) and Shingo HAYASHI (1963).
Afterward, with the progress of the study
of Carboniferous conodonts by !Go and
KOIKE (1964, etc.) and KOIKE (1967), it
was revealed that considerable amounts
of Triassic conodonts are contained in
the limestones and cherts which had been
regarded as Paleozoic (KOIKE et al., 1971,
etc.). This revelation brought forth not
a few topics for discussion of the Permian­
Triassic boundary in Japan. At present,
conodonts are known to occur in all of
the Paleozoic formations of Japan, ranging
from Silurian to Permian, and their
stratigraphic significance is highly esteemed.
A Brief History of Post-Paleozoic Micropaleontology
In Japan, study of Post-Paleozoic microfossils
was begun at the end of the 19th
century. The first papers on foraminifers
and diatoms were published in 1890
or thereabout, but those were succeeded
by little research activities until the early
part of the 20th century when Hisakatsu
Y ABE commenced his study of foraminifers.
Micropaleontological researches in
Japan today are active and manifold, but
* Institute of Geology and Paleontology;
Faculty of Science, Tohoku University,
Sendai.
Yokichi TAKAYANAGI*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), 1976
the history of study of great many groups
of miCrofossils is still short. It may be
safely said that micropaleontology in
Japan developed centering around researches
on foraminifers, and so in this
article the history of foraminiferal study
will be introduced by dividing · it into
several stages which also cover the
historical progresses in various other
branches.
The initial stage of micropaleontology
in the 19th centuray was opened in the
form of the study of Japanese specimens

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 21
as the beginning of the second stage of
micropaleontological study in Japan. It
is true that the first stage had produced
such records as Upper Paleozoic, Triassic
and Jurassic radiolarians from the Sakawa
basin of Kochi Prefecture by Singo
YEHARA (1927), Plio:::ene ostracodes from
the Kakegawa district of Shizuoka Prefecture
by Jir6 MAKIY AMA (1931), and
calcareous nannoplankton in the Shimajiri
Group of Okinawa by HANZA w A
(1925), but rese:uch work on these
fossils made no progress before the
second stage.
The second stage corresponds to the
period from the time of the strained
social situation facing the outbreak of
the Pacific War to the dramatic termination
of the War in 1945. This period
was marked with the concentrative study
of larger foraminifers by HANZA w A and
the active research work of ASANO on
smaller foraminifers. Their activities extended
to the description, the stratigraphic
distribution and the taxonomy
of fossil faunas not only in japan but
also over the vast Indo-Pacific region.
One of the distinguished achievements
of HANZA w A during this period was the
study (1940) of larger foraminifers in the
drill core from a deep well in Kita-Daitojima
(North Borodino Island), and this
is highly valued as a pioneer work of
the post-war research on the structural
development of the Pacific basin. ASA­
No's paper (1938) on fossil Nodosariidae
is his representative work of this period.
The number of researchers increased
further during the second stage, and biostratigraphical
survey of oil fields was
pushed forward by Tsuneteru OINO­
MIKADO and others. Noticeable among
these researchers was Kazuhiko IsHIZAKI
who produced excellent papers (1939-48)
on description and classification of
smaller foraminifers while staying in
Taiwan. Unfortunately, however, he was
destined to become the one and only
japanese micropaleontologist who was
directly victimized by the war.
Toward the end of the second stage,
distribution and constituent species of
diatomite deposits in Japan were summarized
by Haruo OKUNO, and this paved
the way for the post-war research on
fossil distoms after the 50-year long gap
since the work of BRUN and TEMPEim.
The fossil radiolarians of the Sakawa
basin that remained unstudied after the
work of YEHARA were taken up by Toshio
KIMURA, who described Upper Triassic-Lower
Jurassic radiolarians (1944a,
b, c). Teiichi KOBAYASHI and KIMURA
(1944) published their general view on
Paleozoic rocks and fossil radiolarian
fauna of Japan. It was also during this
period that B.L. CLARK and A.S. CAMP­
BELL were actively describing Upper
Cretaceous, Eocene and Miocene radiolarians
in California, revealing the stratigraphic
merits of these fossils.
The transitional period between the
second stage and the third stage experienced
the worst publishing situation,
and publication of micropaleontological
papers reached the lowest ebb just as in
other branches of science. In 1946, however,
scientific journals began to be issued
again. With the increasing opportunities
for reporting the results in journals
abroad the research activities became
vigorous. In the case of foraminiferal
research, it was after 1950 when the new
series of the Transactions and Proceedings
of the Palaeontological Society of
Japan was started that the number of
researchers increased and their activities
became noticeable. In this period, ASANO
summarized the results of his study on
benthonic foraminifers and published
"Illustrated Catalogue of japanese Tertiary
Smaller Foraminifera" (1950-52).

22 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
The Catalogue gave a stimulus to younger
researchers, and those who specialize in
biostratigraphy gained in number. Consequently,
the objects of study which
had been limited mostly within the oilproducing
regions along the coasts of
the japan Sea came to include the entire
Tertiary formations of Hokkaido, Honshu
and Kyushu, and the results began to be
published one after another since about
1960 (Yoshiro T AI, 1959 ; Manzo CHIJI,
1960; Shigeo MuRATA, 1961; Saburo
IWASA, 1962; Torahiko INOMATA, 1962;
Takashi MATSUNAGA, 1963; Yoshiki KI­
KUCHI, 1964; Yii HIGUCHI, 1964; Yasumochi
MA TOBA, 1967; Naoaki AOKI,
1968). Many of these papers show a
strong influence of KLEINPELL's " Miocene
Stratigraphy of California" (1938)
methodologically. AsANO also took the
initiative in the study of the Cretaceous
foraminifers in japan (ASANO, 1950a, b).
Afterwards, the results of study of the
Cretaceous foraminifers of Hokkaido
were summarized into the monographic
work (Yokichi TAKA Y ANAGI, 1960; Saburo
YOSHIDA, 1963).
Study of Recent foraminifers was remarkably
developed in the third stage.
With the progress of researches on local
fossil assemblages and the growing interest
in biofacies and paleo-environment,
the ecological investigation and study of
dead assemblages and living assemblages
in the Recent sediments were actively
carried out, laying the foundation for
clarifying the paleoecology. What had
put spurs to these activities was the
study by the group of scientists at the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The
group, with F.B PHLEGER and F.L. PAR­
KER as the central figures, produced distinguished
results in succession during a
period from the 1940's to the 1950's. The
group developed the short corer a:nd
improved the vital staining method, and
these devices were adopted by the Japanese
researchers and enabled them to
make highly precise investigations. Prior
to this, investigations of Recent foraminifers
bad been made in Mutsu Bay (Yoshine
HADA, 1931) and a few other bays
and brackish lakes. In that third stage,
however, the area of investigation expanded
largely, and a large number of
brackish, lakes, lagoons and bays, as well
as the continental shelf and the upper
parts of continental slope were studied
by many researchers. Researches on
biocoenoses are still few, among them
are the valuable work of Yukio KuwANO
(1962-63) on Pacific-side biocoenoses and
that of MA TOBA (1970) on Matsushima
Bay. Also, the achievements of Takayasu
UCHIO (1960), who studied the living
fauna off San Diego, California, are great.
With the progress in the ecological
study, foraminiferal researchers came to
take more interest in quantitative work
in various fields, and mathematical analysis
of fauna became popular. Hiroshi
UJII:E and his students made faunal
analyses of Recent and fossil benthonic
and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages.
Introduction of electronic computers
made it possible to conduct high-order
analyses, and distinguished results were
gained (e. g., Tadamichi OBA, 1969).
In the latter half of the 1950's, H.M.
BOLLI, W.H. BLOW and others set up fine
biostratigraphic zonation in the Caribbean
region by means of planktonic foraminifers,
and this ignited the explosive increase
of similar researches all over the
world. The Miocene zonation by Tsunemasa
SAITO (1963) was a comprehensive
study in this field at that time, and on
the basis of this zonation a precise correlation
of Tertiary System in the low
latitude regions was made for the first
time. Afterwards, a large number of researchers
have engaged themselves in

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 23
setting up zomtion of Paleogene to Pleistocene,
and consequently the world-wide
correlation is becoming more accurate.
The biostratigraphic zonation, based
mainly on marine sediments, has been
further pushed forward, covering the
vast region of western: North Pacific
Ocean that includes the Pacific coasts of
Southwest japan. Also, a scrutiny into
the "global standard" of zonation is,under
way. In the meantime, .t)le japan Sea
coastal areas were taken up as the subject
of biostratigraphic study, and the
Late Cenozoic zonation, pec;uliar to japan
located in middle latitudes, was proposed
(Hisaya SHINBO and Seijuro MAIY A, 1971),
presenting a topic relating to the history
of development of the marginal seas in
the Northwestern Pacific region. As for
the Cretaceous stratigraphy, TAKAYANA­
GI (1965) attempted biostratigraphy of the
Upper Cretaceous System of California
on the Pacific coast. Lately, the biostratigraphic
study using microfoJsi!s in
deep-sea sediments is serving as a strong
support to the development of the seafloor
spreading theory and the plate
tectonics. japanese researchers who participated
in, or c;ooperated with, the
JOIDES/DSDP project are publishing
their results (e. g., Hiroshi UJIIE, 1975).
They are expected to conduct active research
work through Japan's participation
in the JOIDES/IPOD project.
The results of researches on larger
foraminifers that had been conducted
ever since the first stage were compiled
into the monograph on Micronesian foraminifers
(HANZA w A, 1957), the voluminous
book of "L.arger Foraminifera" (HAN­
ZA w A, 1968) and many other papers and
books of HANZA w A, which formed a
pyramid of this field. HANZA W A's SUCcessors,
though small in number, are
concentrating their attention on the statistics
of foraminiferal population and are
steady gaining results (Kuniteru MATSU­
MARU, 1971, 1973; UJIIE, 1966, 1973).
A series of studies by j. HOFKER, Sr.
on the internal structures of foraminiferal
tests greatly enlightened the Japanese
researchers. Study in this field
made a remarkable progress, irrespective
of the types of foraminifers, that is,
larger or sm9.ller and benthonic or planktonic
(e. g., UJIIE, 1965-75). In the latter
half of the 1960's, as the scanning electronic
microscopy became popular, the
study developed toward the elucidation
of microstructures of test walls (TAKA­
YANAGI eta!., 1968). Moreover, measurement
of paleo-sea water temperature by
means of oxygen-isotope ratio (0 1 " /0 18 )
was developed by H. C. UREY in 1947,
which accelerated the study of paleooceans
using planktonic foraminiferal
tests by C. EMILIANI and others. OBA's
work (1969) on the temperature changes
of Pleistocene waters of the Indian Ocean
contributed to the paleo-oceanography.
Most recently, SAITO and j. VAN DaNK
(1974) have proved that paleontologically
inferred " planktonic " and " benthonic "
foraminifers of Cretaceous and early
Tertiary ages were actually planktonic
and benthonic, on the basis of oxygen
and carbon isotope measurements.
In the third stage, researches in the
field of diatoms began with the study of
biostratigraphic value of diatoms by W ataru
ICHIKAwA, and elucidation of test
structures, making the most use of electron
microscopes, wa._s attempted (OKUNO,
1954-1959). Although 0KUNO did not get
to reveal the phylogenetic significance of
microstructures of diatom tests, his work
is memorable in the respect that the electron
microscopy was introduced to micropaleontology
for the first time. Since
then, the structural study of diatom tests
has been continued .by W ataru IcHIKAwA,
Kei OSHITE, Yukitoshi HAYASHI, Yasuo

24 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
HASEGAwA and other researchers, who
recorded the fossil-coenoses in Upper
Cenozoic fresh-water, brackish and rna.
rine sediments of various parts of Japan,
and reported the thanatocoenoses in Recent
sediments. However, the methodological
foundation of biostratigraphy was
laid by Taro KANA Y A (1957) with his
work on Californian Eocene diatoms. It
was followed by his study of diatoms in
the Miocene Onnagawa Formation (1959),
which resulted in the establishment of
biostratigraphic zonation of the Onnagawa
Formation and corresponding
strata. KANA Y A's work that gained
worldwide frame was succeeded by ltaru
KOIZUMI who set up the Upper Cenozoic
zonation of the Oga Peninsula (1968).
Despite of such progress, however, no
start has yet been made with the study
of pre-Miocene diatoms in Japan. On
the other hand, the work of KANA Y A and
KOIZUMI (1966) on the diatom thanatocoenoses
of the North Pacific Ocean made
a large contribution to the Recent diatom
researches. This work clarified the distribution
of diatom thanatocoenoses in
Recent sediments, and it was on the basis
of the distribution that KOIZUMI could
accomplish his study of deep-sea biostratigraphy
(Deep Sea Drilling Project)
in the North Pacific Ocean (1973) and in
the western marginal region of the Pacific
Ocean (1975).
W ataru ICHIKAwA, while proceeding
with his study of diatoms, recorded in
1950 the presence .of. silicoflagellates in
the Miocene and Pliocene strata of Ishikawa
Prefecture for the first time. Later,
his collaborator A. BACHMANN (1964,
1967) made regular description and classification
of silicoflagellates and archaeomonads
in the Miocene diatomite of the
Nato Peninsula. His work was followed
by LING and others who described silicoflagellates
and ebridians from the Miocene
Series of the Oga Peninsula (1971) and
the Miura Peninsula (1972). As a result,
the stratigraphic distribution of these
groups of microfossils is becoming clear.
Radiolarian research in the third stage
began with the work of Koichiro !CHI­
KA w A who made the first record of Paleogene
radiolarians (1946) and successively
described numerous species from the
Permo-Triassic Sambosan Group (1951).
Afterward, the study of Mesozoic fossils
slackened until Akira Y AO (1972) started
to work on spongosaturnalids. At present,
the study in this field is expected
to become more active. Biostratigraphic
study of Miocene fossils was commenced
from about 1954 by Kojiro NAKASEKO.
Stratigraphic distribution of Neogene
fossils in Hokkaido, in the region along
the coasts of the Japan Sea, and in the
joban and northern Kanto districts, was
energetically pursued by NAKASEKO and
his collaborators. On the basis of radiolarian
fossils, they set up the zonation
of the Neogene System along the japan
Sea, mainly in the Toyama and Niigata
basins, and revealed the faunal changes
with geographic position and geologic
time (1972, 1973). NAKASEKO (1964) also
recorded radiolarian assemblages in the
Recent sediments from the japan Trench.
In the United States, on the other hand,
study of fossils in the deep-sea sediments
was started by W. RIEDEL and others at
about the same time as NAKASEKO's
work. The results of their stratigraphic
study are being reported with the progress
of the DSDP project. On the seas
around the japanese Islands the Leg 31
report has been made lately by H. Y.
LING (1975).
The presence of calcareous nannoplankton
in the Neogene sediments of
japan and in the Recent sediments of the
neighboring waters was noticed during
the first stage, but their description

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 25
cla::sifl ::ation and stratigraphic distribution
remained unrecorded until the work
of Toshiaki TAKAYAMA (1967) on the
Late Cenozoic fossils in southern K1nto
was published. From the next year, rese3.rches
on nannoplankton were activated.
Shiro NISHIDA an:l UCHIO p3.rticipated
in the research work and many
records were m1de on the Late Cenozoic
and Recent sediments in various parts
of Japan. The knowledge of the stratigraphic
and geographic distributions of
nannoplankton is rapidly gaining. In
foreign countries, also, it was only after
1967 when the 1st Planktonic Conference
(Geneva) was held, that the biostratigraphic
study of this group of fossils
made a remarkable progress. In 1971 E.
MARTINI and D. BUKRY independently
published the zonation of Cenozoic calcareous
nannoplankton. Thus, the researches
in this field came to boast of a
great variety. Among the accomplishments
of those days, the zonation of the
youngest Cenozoic of Japan by TAKA­
YAMA (1973) and the Upper Cenozoic
zonation of the Nansei Islands by NISHI­
DA (1973) are noteworthy. Published records
of Paleogene and Mesozoic nannofossils
are still few, but there are the
reports on the Paleogene Setogawa Group
(Susumu HONJO and Nachio MINOURA,
1968) and on the Upper Cretaceous Futaba
Group (TAKAYAMA and lkuwo OBATA,
1968) ; and further developments of the
study are expected. On the Recent species,
a series of researches on the distribution
of coccolithophorids in the Pacific
Ocean were made by Hisatake OKADA
and HONJO in the early part of the 1970's,
which marked a milestone in this field
of research. In the later half of the 1960's
HONJO and his collaborators developed
the electron microscopic technique for
the study of microfossils. Their achievement
ought to be rated high.
The first record of dinoflagellates and
acritarchs was made by Kiyoshi TAKA­
HASH! in 1964 in his work on the fossils
from the Oligocene Asagai Formation.
It was in the 1970's that full-scale researches
were carried forward, as exemplified
by the reports on the Pleistocene,
Plio::ene and Miocene fossils in
Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu by K.
TAKAHASHI, Misaburo SHIMAKURA and
others, and Kazumi MATSUOKA. Kenichi
HARADA and his collaborators studied
the fossils in the sediments of Black Sea
(1973). A rapid progress in the biological
and paleontological studies in the world
was observed only after the time lapsed
into the 1960's. Much expectations are
laid on future studies in Japan, too.
Since 1866 when G.S. BRADY first recorded
Japanese ostracodes, the ostracod
researches in Japan focussed on living
species and the reports were made mostly
by biologists. Especially their work on
bioluminescence attracted attention of
the world scientists. As for the Cenozoic
fossils, Tetsuro HANAI (1957-1961) in his
serial works on ostracodes, entitled
"Studies on the Ostracoda from Japan",
dealt with living and fossil species comprehensively
for the first time, and made
efforts for their phylogenetic classification
with proposal for several new subfamilies.
This series includes "Historical review
with bibliographic index of Japanese
Ostracoda" (1959) which tells the status
of researches in Japan up to that time.
Description and classification of Late
Cenozoic fossil assemblages were commenced
in 1963 by Kunihiro ISHIZAKI.
Synecologic researches on living bay
fauna also were energetically carried out
by him. Mesozoic fossils, however, have
been little studied. In Japan, presence of
some Cretaceous fossils is recognized, but
no description has been given yet. The
one and only achievement by Japanese

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 27
OzAwA (1925) who studied. the Akiyoshi
Limestone. Later, Paleozoic corals from
many parts of eastern Asia were described
by Y ABE, SUGIYAMA, Motoki
EGUCHI and others. Generally speaking,
however, researches on fossil corals were
less active than those on stromatoporids
or other groups of coelenterates.
The oldest fossil-bearing bed in japan
belongs to the Silurian System. From
this bed Y oshio ONUKI detected Halysites,
and SuGIYAMA (1940) wrote a monograph
on corals and stromatoporids. Its discovery
originated from OZAKI's study
(1934) of Silurian corals of Korea. Nip.
ponophyllum, a representative genus of
japanese Silurian corals, was established
then. With regard to tabulate corals,
classification of Halysites by Y ABE (1915)
is notable.
In connection with the classification of
the so-called heterophyllids, Y ABE and
SUGIYAMA (1940) proposed to divide
Tetracoralla into Tetracoelia and Dicoelia.
These subdivisions correspond to
Order, so they are in the highest rank
among taxa proposed by japanese for
coelenterates.
Researches on Mesozoic corals of japan
were conducted with Motoki EGUCHI as
the central figure. The results were compiled
by EGUCHI (1951) after the war,
though the major parts were the products
of researches made in the prewar days.
Cenozoic corals, including the living
ones, are involved in the problems of
paleoclimate, sea level fluctuation and
reef formation, and so they have been
the object of attention of geologists since
old days. The controversy on the geologic
age of the raised coral reef of
Numa is especially famous. This reef is
now assigned to Holocene, and is not
regarded as a typical tropical or subtropical
reef.
Y ABE and his students took interest
in the Recent coral reefs also, and carried
out topographical, geological, biological
and paleontological researches of coral
reefs of the Palao Islands, collaborating
with zoologists of the Palau Tropical
Biological Station. These researches gave
rise to many distinguished workers including
TAYAMA, SUGIYAMA, EGUCHI and
ASANO. The deep boring in Kitadaitojima
conducted by YABE and others
opened a new way of geological and
paleontological research of coral reefs.
Through these processes, the taxonomic
study of Recent corals was advanced by
paleontologists. The monographs on reefbuilding
corals of japan and South Seas
by Y ABE, SUGIYAMA and EGUCHI (1936,
1941) are the most remarkable products.
One of the interesting achievements is
the work of MA (1934) on the seasonal
growth of coral skeleton. His work was
a herald of modern methods to be employed
in the postwar researches such as
the pursuit of the paleo-equator, the
elucidation of continental drift, the chronological
study, and so forth.
As an instance of a particular group,
Conulariida was studied by HAY AS AKA
and SUGIYAMA.
With the above-mentioned works at the
peak, the first period of study came to
an end. The war and the postwar chaos
followed. Slackening of research activities
was conspicuous.
The postwar period after 1945 began
with the resumption and continuance of
the prewar researches. In the postwar
researches on fossil coelenterates, Masao
MINATO took a leading role. His study
of Paleozoic corals resulted in a monograph
on Carboniferous-Permian corals
of japan (MINATO, 1955), in which he
defined a number of coralline fossil zones
in the Upper Paleozoic System. His work
on the ontogeny of Silurian corals of

28 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Gotland Island of Sweden. was published
in 1961. It introduced a new technique
of study and at the same time exerted a
large influence upon the later researchers.
MINA To's wor\< and the Treatise on
Invertebrate Paleontology, Part F, Coelenterata,
whi!;:h was completed in 1956,
served to bring up many researchers of
Paleozoic corals. Those who engaged
themselves in the study of fossil corals
were; EGUCHI, Haruyoshi FUJIMOTO
[ =HUZIMOTO], Hiroya GOTO, Takashi
HAMADA, Wataru HASHIMOTO, HAYA­
SAKA, Hisayoshi !GO, Ken-ichi IsHII, Tadao
KAMEl, Kametoshi KANMERA, Makoto
KA TO, Shigema KA w ADA, Michihiro
KAwANO, Kenji KONISHI, Shiro MAEDA,
MINATO, Masafumi MURATA, Takumi
NAGAO, Mitsuo NODA, C. OKAMURA, Yoshio
ONUKI, Masamichi OT A, OZAKI, C.L.
ROWETT, Shigeo SAKAGUCHI, Toshihiko
SA TO, Eitaro TAKAHASHI, H. TAKEDA,
YABE, Y. YAMADA, Nobuo YAMAGIWA,
Tsuruo YoKOYAMA and T. YOSHIDA.
Especially noticeable achievements
were the serial studies on Halysitids by
HAMADA (1956-59), the study of fine
structure of corals by KA TO (1963), and
the phylogenetic and paleogeographic
rese:uches on Waagenophyllidae, Durhaminidae,
Geyerophyllidae and Pseudopavonidae
by MINATO and KATO (1965a,
b; 1975a, b). New techniques of study,
such as statistics and electron microscopy
(SATO, 1963), were introduced.
Rezearches on Mesozoic corals became
less active than in the first period, but
Jurassic corals were studied by HASHI­
MOTO, MURATA, ONUKI, Kei MORI, and
Triassic corals by KANMERA. Y AMA­
GIW A investigated the Triassic corals of
Timor Island and South America. Thus,
the researches on corals by japanese
scientists covered the Pacific regions and
the continents other than Antarctica and
Africa.
In the study of Cenozoic and Recent
corals, EGUCHI kept an . unchallenged
position. HAMADA (1963) published an
atlas of corals from Numa. Living coral
specimens collected by the Emperor from
Sagami Bay were compiled into a monograph
by EGUCHT (1968).
OTA (1968) in his facies analysis of
the Akiyoshi Limestone mentioned the
structure of Paleozoic coral reef. MINATO
and ROWETT (1968) discussed the way of
reproduction of Paleozoic corals. Since
1968, KONISHI, Akio OMURA and others
have been conducting dating of Quaternary
corals by means of uranium isotope
(KONISHI et al., 1975).
Study of Conularia began again lately
by MURATA. On Mesozoic hydrozoans
there are the research reports by HASHI­
MOTO. Stromatoporoids were neglected
for a long time after the war, but MORI
(1968, 1970) studied the Silurian specimens
from Gotland Island of Sweden
from the biostratigraphic and paleoecological
standpoints, and completed a
highly appreciated monograph.
Coelenterate fossils of japan leave
much room for future study in view of
description and taxonomy. With the
introduction of various methods of study,
interest of many researchers has overgrown
the mere descriptions of fossils or
fossil faunas and has turned towards the
histology and functional morphology of
skeleton, in other words a study of
physiology and ecology of coelenterates,
which would require the knowledge and
technique of paleo-biochemistry, geochemistry
and sedimentology.
The changes of hard tissue due to
diagenesis and the process of fossilization
are being pursued, as these will expand
our knowledge of phylogeny of coelenterates
and will also afford a clue to the
natural resources of marine origin such
as limestones and oil-bearing reef de-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 29
posits.
In 1971 the International Committee on
Fossil Corals and Coral Reefs was organized,
and MINATO was elected as vicechairman.
With this Committee in action,
Study of fossil bryozoans commenced
in 1924 when Ichiro HAY AS AKA reported
five species of the Carboniferous bryozoans
from the Omi Limestone. HAY A­
SAKA's work was succeeded by Yoshiaki
OZAWA (1925) who described five bryozoans
from the Carboniferous-Permian
Akiyoshi Limestone. In either of the two
papers, however, bryozoans were not the
main subject of study as they were recorded
only as accessory fossils in association
with other important fossils
such as fusulinaceans and corals. About
fifteen years later, Toshio SUGIYAMA
(1941) reported three species of "Batostomella"
(specifically indeterminate) from
the Hidaka mountains of Hokkaido and
described them as Permian bryozoans.
SUGIYAMA (1944) also described a Silurian
bryozoan of Japan, Monotrypella?
yabei (n. sp.), together with tabulate
corals, etc. He was expected to take
an active part in the study of the Paleozoic
bryozoans, but unfortunately he
passed away in 1944, the year his last
work was published. Since then, nobody
took any notice of the Paleozoic bryozoans
in Japan until 1960, when Sumio
SAKAGAMI (1960a, b) described two new
bryozoan genera, Hayasakapora and NiP-
* Department of Geology, Faculty of Edu.
cation, Ehime University, Matsuyama.
History of Bryozoological Research
Sumio SAKAGAMI*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
exchange of information and cooperative
researches became possible on a global
scale. Future progress in this field must
be remarkable.
ponostenopom from the ]:lpanese Carboniferous
and Permian systems, respectively.
In the following year, descriptions
and taxonomic researches of the Permian
bryozoans from several localities of Japan
were summarized by SAKAGAMI into a
monograph. After that, he devoted his
energies to the study of Carboniferous
bryozoans, while concurrently supplementing
his report on the Permian bryozoans
with newly obtained data. Thus,
he was able to clarify the Lower Carboniferous
bryozoan fauna at Hikoroichi, Omi
and Akiyoshi. At the 1st International
Conference on Bryozoa held in Milan in
1968, SAKAGAMI read a paper entitled
"Study on the Paleozoic Bryozoa of Japan
and the Thailand-Malayan districts". In
recent years, bryozoans from the Akiyoshi
Limestone (Carboniferous-Permian)
have been studied by Akihiro SUGIMURA
(1974). Future studies are expected to
reveal bryozoan faunas in the Silurian,
Devonian and Upper Carboniferous systems
of Japan.
The Mesozoic bryozoans in Japan have
been studied very little. As for the
Triassic bryozoans, only 30-odd species
have been recorded in the world. Pseudobatostomella
kobayashii was described by
SAKAGAMI (1972) from the Carnic bed of
the Sakawa basin in Shikoku. SAKAGAMI
mentioned that one of the " Permian

30 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Batostonzella " species reported by SUGI­
YAMA from Hidaka closely resembles
Pseudobatostomella kobayashii, and he
pointed out a possibility of the Hidaka
specimen's being Triassic, not Permian.
Occurrences of the Jurassic and Cretaceous
bryozoans are known without
any paleontologic studies as yet.
Study of the Cenozoic bryozoans in
Japan was started by Katsuhiko SAKA­
KURA (1935, 1938) when he described
Cheilostomata and Cyclostomata from the
Pleistocene of Chiba Prefecture. After
a gap of about twenty years, the Cenozoic
bryozoans were recorded from the
Pleistocene Daishaka Formation of Aomori
Prefecture by J un KATAOKA (1957).
Later, KATAOKA (1970)·described a large
number of the Pleistocene bryozoans
from the "Ryukyu Limestone" of Kikaijima,
Kagoshima Prefecture. Recently,
Tomoko HAY AMI is proceeding with the
study of Japanese Cenozoic bryozoans,
reporting their occurrences in the Pliocene
of Okinawa Island and in the Mizunami
Formation (Miocene) of Gifu Pre-
fecture, in addition to the northern part
of Japan (HAY AMI, 1975).
The first paper on foreign bryozoans
reported by Japanese was by Kin'emon
OzAKI (1933), in which two species collected
from the Toufangkou Limestone
(Ordovician) of Province of Liaoning,
South Manchuria were described. OzAKI's
work was succeeded by Hisakatsu Y ABE
and Toshio SUGIYAMA (1942) who described
three species of the Permian
Batostomella (Geinitzella) from Manchuria
and Yunnan of South China.
Since 1962 the paleontological research
in Southeast Asia is in continuance under
the leadership of Teiichi KOBAYASHI. In
some ten papers on the Carboniferous­
Permian bryozoans of Thailand and Malaya,
SAKAGAMI has described more than
117 species of 27 genera. Thus, the relation
between the Carboniferous-Permian
bryozoan faunas of these regions and
those of other regions is being clarified.
An intermediate report of the results
hitherto obtained has been made by
SAKAGAMI (in TORIY AMA et al., 1975).
Brachiopodology in Japan-A Historical Review
The first report on fossil brachiopods
in Japan was the one by David BRAUNS
(1881) which briefly described three species
that were found, in association with
molluscs, from the Quaternary beds of
the Tokyo district.
A systematic study of fossil brachiopods
began with the Permian specimens
from the southern Kitakami mountain-
* Department of Geology, Faculty of Science,
Kyushu University, Fukuoka.
Juichi YANAGIDA*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), 1976
land. After Hisakatsu Y ABE (1900) reported
the occurrence of Leptodus under
the name of Lyttonia, lchiro HAY AS AKA
(1917, 1922, 1925) described 15 ·genera and
15 species including such peculiar-shaped
ones as Leptodus and Richthofenia, and
founded the basis of biostratigraphy of
the Permian System of the Kitakami
mountainland. Leptodus was reported
also from the Neoschwagerina limestone
of Kinshozan, Akasaka, central Japan,
by HAY ASAKA (1925) who described 5

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 31
species in 3 genera including Scacchinella.
Later, HA YASAKA (1932) added 3 species
in 2 genera including Geyerella to the list
of Permian brachiopods. Furthermore,
12 species in 10 genera, including such
larger types as Orthotichia and Meekella,
were described from the Nabeyama For.
mation of the Kanto mountainland by
HAY ASAKA (1933). From the Omi limestone
HAYASAKA (1924) de3cribed 18
species in 8 genera of Carboniferous
brachiopods, including Gigantoproductus
and four other genera of Superfamily
Productacea. On the basis of the result
of this study he established fossil zones.
HAY ASAKA's study not only confirmed
the existence of the thick Carboniferous
limestone but also contributed a great
deal to the later biostratigraphical researches
on the Carboniferous and Permian
Systems. Owing to the efforts of
HAY ASAKA and other pioneers, the knowledge
of the Upper Paleozoic of Japan
was widened and the yield of brachiopods
increased rapidly. One of the noticeable
achievements in those days was the discovery
of the Devonian System containing
Cyrtospirifer verneuili in the Kitakami
mountainland by Y ABE and Mitsuo
NODA (1933).
Researches on fusulinids contributed a
great deal to gain the knowledge of the
biostratigraphy of the Permian and
the Carboniferous System. Brachiopods
played an important role in clarifying
the biostratigraphic successions of the
Lower Carboniferous and the Devonian
System of the Kitakami mountainland.
Syringothyris and many other genera and
species were identified by Masao MINA TO
(1951, 1952, 1953) and Koichi T ACH!BANA
(1956, 1962, 1969). Kitakamithyris of MI­
NATO proved effectu1l in international
correlation. Thus, the biostratigraphy of
the Lower Carboniferous brachiopods of
the Kitakami mountainland has ever since
held the position of the standard sequence
in Japan. From the 1940's to the 1950's,
taxonomical study of Silurian and Devonian
brachiopods of Northeast Japan was
conducted . by Toshiro SUGIYAMA (1942),
Masahiro OKUBO (1956), HAY AS AKA and
MINA TO (1954), and NODA and T ACH!BANA
(1959); ·:.In and after the 1950's, Permian
brachiopods of Northeast Japan were recorded
in many papers including those
by HAYASAKA, MINATO, Koji NAKAMURA,
Jun'ichi T AZA WA and lchiro Y ANAGI­
SA w A. The Lower Carboniferous brachiopods
of the Kanto mountainland were
described by Juichi YANAGIDA (1973).
On the Permian brachiopods from the
Inner zone of Southwest Japan, excellent
results were obtained by Sotoji IMAMURA,
Daikichiro SHIMIZU, HAY ASAKA, Makoto
KATO, and YANAGIDA. The Carboniferous
brachiopods from the same region
were recorded by YANAGIDA, MINATO,
and KA TO, in their distinguished papers.
In the Outer zone of Southwest Japan,
Takashi HAMADA and NonA described
Silurian brachiopods of Kyushu and Shikoku,
and Permian brachiopods were described
by YANAGIDA.
NAKAMURA (1972) described 25 species
in 7 genera of Superfamily Davidsoniacea
from the Permian system of the Kitakami
mountainland, and presented a new idea
about taxonomy and phylogeny of this
superfamily. SHIMIZU (1961, 1963) clarified
the period of occurrence of the
Upper Permian brachiopod fauna in the
Maizuru zone, and elucidated its habitat
and the environmental changes with time,
in connection with the coexisting faunas
of other m::trine animals. YANAGIDA
(1962, 1965, 1968, 1973) classified and described
the Carboniferous brachiopods of
the Akiyoshi area and made a detailed
correlation. He also obtained a clue to
the relationship between the sedimentary
environment and the faunal changes with

32 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
time. HAMADA (1962) described 2 species
of Lingula from the G2 stage (Wenlockian)
and Conchidium from the Ga
stage (Lower Ludlovian) of the Silurian
System in the Outer zone of Kyushu; he
maintained that the former suggests a
calm environment and the latter an environment
under agitated coral reef.
While the data of the Paleozoic brachiopods
was thus accumulating, information
on the Mesozoic ones remained surprisingly
scanty. Edmund NAUMANN and
Melchior NEUMA YR (1890) reported on
the Mesozoic brachiopods collected from
the neighborhood of the Sakawa basin,
Shikoku. After that, there were reports
by Singo YEHARA (1926), Y ABE and Saburo
SHIMIZU (1927), Kango T A TEBA Y A­
SHI (1929), Teiichi KOBAYASHI (1931) and
others, but many of them dealt with the
materials from the Triassic and Jurassic
Systems of Shikoku. Akira TOKUY AMA
(1957-1958) examined the materials from
the Triassic and Jurassic Systems of the
Sakawa basin and surrounding areas and
those from the Triassic System of the
Chugoku region, and attempted a detailed
correlation. He described new genera
Sakawairhynchia and Spiriferinoides from
the Triassic System and Naradanithyris
and Neumayrithyris from the Jurassic
System. He also expressed his view on
grouping of the Triassic ribbed rhynchonellids.
On the Cenozoic brachiopods of Japan,
there was a report by KOCHIBE (1882),
which, in the form of an appendix to the
above-mentioned BRAUN's report (1881),
recorded 9 species in 6 genera of Tertiary
brachiopods from the Kanto region. This
work of KOCHIBE was, so to speak, the
first of the academic papers on the Japanese
Cenozoic brachiopods. Until the
first half of the 1930's, brachiopodology
in Japan was largely due to the achievements
of HAY ASAKA (1932) and Matajiro
YoKOYAMA (1920). After the middle of
the 1930's, Kotora HA TAI published the
voluminous results of his researches on
the Japanese Tertiary and Recent brachiopods.
Especially his monograph, published
in 1940, was a comprehensive
record of his taxonomic study of the
Tertiary brachiopods of Japan. HAT AI
produced a l:lrge number of excellent
results from his morphological and structural
study of brachiopods. He (1941)
also described fossil brachiopods from
China and the Philippines.
In 1904 Y ABE wrote on the Devonian
fossils from Hunan Province, China, and
discussed the localities, horizons and
affinities of brachiopod fossils among
them. In the 1910's. Carboniferous and
Permian brachiopods of China began to
be reported by HAY AS AKA. This was
the period when RICHTHOFEN's '"China"
and MANSUY's monograph on the fossil
brachiopods of Indochina and South China
were published. HAY ASAKA (1922) described
41 species in 15 genera of Paleozoic
brachiopods from Central and South
China, and 11 species in 7 genera from
the Lowest Permian System of North
China. A marked affinity between fossil
faunas of North China and brachiopods
of the Ural-Timan region was pointed
out.
From the latter half of the 1920's to
the 1930's, Ryilji ENDO and KOBAYASHI
continued their energetic study of paleontology
and biostratigraphy of the Cambrian
and the Ordovician of Manchuria
(Northeast China) and Korea. A great
number of species including many new
ones were classified and described, among
which Obolus and Lingulella were the
major members. Their work was of
a global achievement, greatly contributing
to the establishment of the Lower
Paleozoic biostratigraphy and the elucidation
of the geologic history of East

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 33
Asia. The study was succeeded by Kinemon
OZAKI (1931) who minutely classified
and described the Lower Carboniferous
brachiopods of Hunan province,
China, and the Upper Carboniferous ones
of Northeast China and Korea. The
Devonian brachiopods of Northeast China
were studied, though preliminarily, already
in the early part of the 1940's by
YABE, SUGIYAMA, KOBAYASHI and Juniti
NONAKA. The materials collected by
NONAKA from the Lesser Khingan region
were lately re-examined in detail by
HAMADA (1971). A precise correlation
of brachiopods was attempted, and it
revealed that they present a unique
mixed fauna containing elements of other
paleogeographic provinces.
Since the 1960's, paleontological survey
parties have been dispatched abroad one
after another, and the results of these
efforts are accumulating with increasing
speed. A series of paleontological researches
in· Southeast Asia are particularly
distinguished. The role played by
fossil brachiopods in various parts of
Southeast Asia is important. Notable
works since 1964 are the following:
HAMADA and KOBAYASHI made systematic
descriptions of Lower Paleozoic
The greater part of the history of researches
on fossil cephalopods in Japan
is occupied by the study of ammonites.
A comprehensive history of the ammonites
study in Japan has been published
* Department of Paleontology, National
Science Museum, Tokyo.
Cephalopods
Ikuwo OBA T A*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
brachiopods from Thailand and Malaya ;
YANAGIDA, HAMADA, Hisayoshi IGO and
NAKAMURA did the same on Upper Paleozoic
ones. Permian brachiopods from
Cambodia were systematically described
by NAKAMURA, KATO and Dong Ryong
CHOI. These researches disclosed more
than 120 species in about 80 genera which
include such new genera as Echinocoeliop.
sis (1968), Langkawia (1969), Malayanoplia
(1969), Perakia (1969) and Swaicoelia
(1968) by HAMADA, and Permundaria by
NAKAMURA, KATO and CHOI (1970).
The history of brachiopodology in
Japan is not long, being less than 100
years, but researches in some branches
have risen to the world level. In the
past, brachiopodology was mostly the
means to clarify biostratigraphic successions,
but nowadays the fossil brachiopods
have begun to be studied from a
purely paleobiological standpoint and the
results are gradually budding out. For
further progress, more specimens that
were fossilized in their habitat and coexisted
with various kinds of faunas
must be gained. Such specimens might
be found in reef limestones which are
tLickly developed in the Upper Paleozoic.
by Tatsuro MATSUMOTO (1975) who
divided the approximately 100-year long
history into four stages (refer to Concluding
Remarks by MATSUMOTO). It
goes without saying that the history of
researches in Japan owes a great deal to·
the active works of Japanese scholars
extending over several generations, but,

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 35
Start of cephalopod paleontology (1920-
1935) : This period was marked by the
activities of Saburo SHIMIZU and a few
other specialists who studied under Y ABE.
Energetically they described Japanese
cephalopods of different ages collected
from various districts. At this stage,
biostratigraphy based on cephalopods was
attempted by Y ABE and SHIMIZU (1933)
for the Triassic system, Seiichi MABUCHI
(1933) for the Jurassic system, and Y ABE
(1927) and SHIMIZU (1931, 1935) for the
Cretaceous system.
In England of those days, the voluminous
work of Leonard Frank SPATH,
Gault Ammonoidea, was being published
(1923-30, 1931-43), and Japanese researchers
received the influence of SPATH more
or less. SPATH carried out extensive
researches on cephalopods of various
ages, using the specimens collected not
only in Europe but also in many other
parts of the world. His classification is
based on the concept of iterative evolution.
It was in this period that DIENER
(1925) published the Fossilium Catalogue
of late Cretaceous ammonites, and 0. H.
SCHINDEWOLF (1923, 1926, 1928, 1929,
1932-34) demonstrated his interest in
ammonites. In Japan, on the other hand,
the researchers came to take interest in
the structure of cephalopods, and papers
were written on siphuncle (SHIMIZU,
1929), on septa (Takumi NAGAO and
Rinji SAITO, 1934) and on aptychus
(NAGAO, 1931, 1932), besides descriptive,
taxonomic and biostratigraphic papers.
Fossil nautiloids of Cenozoic, Mesozoic
and Paleozoic ages were also studied.
Teiichi KOBAYASHI (1928, 1933, 1934, 1935)
started the study of the Cambro-Ordovician
nautiloid faunas from Northeast
China and Korea introducing a new view
on major classification as well as establishing
genera. In America, A.F. FOER­
STE (1921-35) published numerous papers
on the Paleozoic nautiloids. This period,
therefore, may be called an epoch of
diffusion of academic interest.
Inactiveness and poor continuance (1936-
1950) : This period, extending over the
Second World War (1937-1945), produced
no more than brief papers, owing to the
forced interruption of research activities
and the worsened situation of publication.
Early Paleozoic nautiloids of China and
Korea were continuously studied by Ko­
BAYASHI (1936-38, 1940-42, 1947). Some
Jurassic ammonites of Japan were also
described by him (1947). Inside Japan,
biostratigraphic efforts were continued,
as represented by the accomplishments
of MATSUMOTO (1942-43) and MATSU­
MOTO and Akira 0NO (1947).
In other countries during this period,
various schools of learning were coming
to the fore, such as the British sect represented
by W.J. ARKELL (1933, 1935-50),
the French sect represented by Eliane
BASSE (1947) and Maurice BREISTROFFER
(1940, 1947) under Charles JACOB, and
Maurice COLLIGNON (1948-50), and the
America! sect represested by R.W. IMLAY
(1939, 1942, 1943, 1948), A. K. MILLER and
W.M. FURNISH (1937, 1938, 1940), etc.
Paleozoic nautiloids were energetically
studied by Curt TEICHERT (1939, 1940),
R.H. FLOWER (1936, 1938-1943, 1945-1950),
etc. The level of cephalopod paleontology
in Japan at that time fell much behind
the world level.
Activation and internationalization (1951-
1958) : In this period the international
exchange of knowledge was reopened
and became active, supported by the
young researchers studying abroad and
the mature scientists visiting overseas
countries, as well as by the improved
situation for publishing academic journals.
The volume on ammonites in Treatise
on Invertebrate Paleontology was published
in 1957. At the same time, de-

36 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
scription, classification and biostratigraphic
division of Japanese cephalopods
developed remarkably. A great many
papers were written on Paleozoic, Mesozoic
and Cenozoic cephalopods, in an
effort to catch up with the level of the
western countries. Especially notable of
this period are that the publication of
the monograph on the Cretaceous ammonites
by MATSUMOTO (1954-57) kept
on, that the description of the Jurassic
ammonites by Tadashi SA TO (1954-58)
progressed, that the Cretaceous belemnites
were studied by Tetsuro HANAI
(1953), and that the Japanese Tertiary
nautiloids were described by KOBAYASHI
(1954-58). KOBAYASHI is highly commendable
for his longstanding studies of
various kinds of nautiloids from Asia.
In foreign countries, leading figures in
the academic world were making their
appearance here and there, namely, C.W.
WRIGHT (1952, 1953, 1955, 1957) of London,
R.A. REYMENT (1955, 1956, 1958) of
Stockholm, J. SORNAY (1955) of Paris,
SCHINDEWOLF (1951, 1953, 1954, 1957,
1958) of Ti.ibingen, Bernhard KuMMEL
(1954-57) of Harvard, V.N. SHIMANSKIY
(1954-57) and Z.G. BALASHOV (1956, 1957)
of U.S.S.R.
Rapid progress and new paleontology
(1959-1973): The characteristics of cephalopod
paleontology in this period may
be represented by the following three
facts, not to speak of the marked increase
in the number of descriptive and
taxonomic papers. The first fact is that
the biostratigraphic division of the Japanese
Mesozoic was established at the
international level, in consequence of accumulation
of materials. For example,
the division of the Cretaceous system by
MATSUMOTO (1959, 1969), of the jurassic
system by SA TO (1962) and of the Triassic
system by Yuji BANDO (1964, 1967)
was published. Especially the fossil zo-
nation by MATSUMOTO was quite unique,
the first of its kind in the world. He
established the zonation by consciously
discriminating three types of ammonites,
namely, the fiat and smooth thin-shelled
type that predominates in the relatively
pelagic, muddy, geosynclinal facies of the
circum-Pacific region, the ornamented
thick-shelled ammonite predominant in
the neritic facies of the continental shelf
region, and the type represented by
abnormally coiled Baculites and Scaphites
that predominate in the facies intermediate
between the above two. Thus,
his zonation is going to play an important
role in linking the circum-Pacific
region to the Tethys Sea for a global
correlation. The second fact is that the
research work of the japanese paleontologists
came to deal with ammonite assemblages
and type specimens from
foreign countries, in parallel with the
popularization of air transportation and
the economic development of Japan. The
resultant numerous papers contributed to
the international correlation and the
knowledge of paleogeography of the
world. A typical example is the work
of MATSUMOTO (1959-60) on the Cretaceous
ammonites of California, which
was rated high abroad as indicative of the
high level of the japanese researchers.
The third fact is that the biological
study of fossil cephalopods was commenced.
For example, Ikuwo 0BATA
(1959, 1960, 1965) applied the relative
growth formula to ammonites for the first
time, and distinguished minute changes
in the growth pattern. This work paved
the way for the study of relative growth
of ammonites by the researchers in the
western countries. MATSUMOTO (1963)
related the difference in habitat by the
ammonites genera to the pattern of ontogeny
and phylogeny. Takayo Funw
ARA (1961) studied amino acids in am-.

A Concise Histo'ry of Palaeontology in Japan 37
monites.
The volume on nautiloids in Treatise
on Invertebrate Paleontology was published
in 1964. In foreign countries,
original ideas and techniques were introduced
one after another, such as the
simulation model for examining morphology
and function of fossil cephalopods
(David M. RAUP, 1965-67), the combination
of relative growth and statistic
technique (S.J. GouLD, 1966), the experiments
on buoyancy of living cephalopod
shell (E. J. DENTON and J. B. GILPIN­
BROWN, 1961, 1963, 1956, 1973), the paleobiochemical
study (P. H. ABELSON, 1954,
1955, 1956, 1963), the functional morphology
of cephalopods and statistics (REY­
MENT, 1956, 1973), and the study of
cephalopod shell by means of a scanning
electron microscope (H. K. ERBEN et at.,
1969). Efforts for the taxonomic description
and the systematics were continued
(e. g., William A. COBBAN, 1961, 1962,
1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1972; J.A. JELET­
ZKY, 1966, 1969; Raymond CASEY, 1961-
66; Jost WIEDMANN, 1960, 1962, 1963,
1968-70; COLLIGNON, 1959-73; KOBAy
ASH!, 1959-61, 1971). Nevertheless, the
scientific interchange between the foreign
countries and Japan was not in a satisfactory
state.
The rise of paleobiology (from 1974 on):
The characteristics of this period are
essentially the same as, and continuous
from, the preceding period. Paleobiological
study of fossil cephalopods in Japan
was given a stimulus and the level of
young researchers rose, bearing comparison
with the western countries. The
rise of paleobiology in Japan owes a
great deal to Itaru HAYAMI (1969-71)
with his efforts in the statistical treat-
ment of relative growth of fossil molluscs,
as well as in the study of their population
genetics and life range. Statistical
technique was adopted also by Hiromichi
HIRANO (1975) in his study of the
shell structure of Cretaceous Gaudryceras
in its early stage of ontogeny and its
growth pattern, and by Kazunari T ANA­
BE (1975) who studied the relative growth
and functional morphology of Cretaceous
Scaphites. Standing on the sound basis
of biostratigraphy, these people are continuing
their research work, enduring the
criticism from RAUP, REYMENT, GOULD
and others. Future progress in this field
is expected. International cooperative
study from the paleobiological standpoint
has been started. Reiner JoRDAN and
MATSUMOTO are working on pathological
phenomena of ammonites, ERBEN and
OBATA are studying cephalopod shell
structure by means of scanning electron
microscopy. REYMENT (1974) analyzed
a generic level transition from Subprionocyclus
to Reesidites mainly on the Japanese
material.
In 1976, an international meeting and
a forum are to be held in Hokkaido,
with the object of discussing " Mid­
Cretaceous Events" which was adopted
in 1970 as part of the International
Geological Correlation Projects. The
present level of cephalopod paleontology
in Japan, especially with regard to description,
classification, biostratigraphy
and paleobiology of late Cretaceous ammonites,
is as high as the level in the
western countries. Researches on fossil
cephalopods in Japan will be further
internationalized and will keep on advancing.

38 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Paleontological study of Japanese molluscan
fossils, excluding cephalopods,
began with the work of D. BRAUNS (1881)
who dealt with Quaternary fossils from
southern Kanto. It was followed by the
reports of E. NAUMANN and M. NEU­
MAYR (1890) and Matajiro YOKOYAMA
(1890, 1910, 1911). But it was YOKOYAMA
(1920) who initiated a systematic study
of fossil molluscs.
In those days researches and papers
were centered upon Cenozoic and Mesozoic
molluscs, whereas information on
Paleozoic molluscs was extremely scanty
because specimens were limited in both
quantity and quality. In addition to this
unbalance of available information, there
was a tendency among the researchers to
set their goal at elucidation of biostratigraphy,
and so the research work was
carried on by separate groups for a
specified geologic age. Consequently,
little attempt was made to put together
all available information and material
obtained by those specialized in Cenozoic,
Mesozoic or Paleozoic molluscs, so as to
compose a phyletic evolution or to establish
a system of classification. However,
after the war, especially in the
1950's, an idea that fossils should be
regarded as "organisms" began to spread
among the researchers while proceeding
with their study in the respective fields.
Based on this idea, the results of researches
in different geologic ages came
to be linked up gradually, and the linkage
is apparently growing ever since the
* Department of Geology, Faculty of Science,
Kyushu University, Fukuoka.
Fossil Molluscs
Tsugio SHUTO*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
1960's. Therefore, the history of fossil
molluscan researches in Japan may be
divided into two periods, from 1881 to
1952 and from 1952 on, although the
boundary is not sharp as the two periods
partly overlap, and it may be admissible
to define the first period as a period of
biostratigraphic study and the second
period as that of biological study. In
view of the participants of the respective
works, it can be said that the first period
was marked with research activities at
Tokyo, Tohoku and Kyoto Universities,
and the second period is the time when
the center of study has been aplit into
multiple institutions. It goes without
saying that there were some excellent
pioneer works in biology during the
period of biostratigraphic study, and
biostratigraphic researches are continued,
with higher precision, in the present
period of biostratigraphic study. This
article reviews the history according to
the respective series of researches.
Series of biostratigraphic study: Academic
study is apt to develop through
tense competitions among researchers or
research groups. This applies to the
fossil molluscan researches in Japan. The
above-mentioned three universities that
took the lead in biostratigraphic study,
particularly during the former half of the
first period, seem to have worked with
different subjects and methods of study.
That is, at Tokyo University description
and biostratigraphy of Cenozoic molluscs
were dealt with, and biostratigraphy of
Mesozoic and Paleozoic molluscs at Tohoku
University, whereas Kyoto Uni-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 39
versity had an inclination toward more
precise biostratigraphical and biological
researches supported by detailed field
work.
M. YOKOYAMA published his voluminous
works on molluscan fossils from the
Miura Peninsula and its vicinity (1920)
and those from Shimoosa and Kazusa
(1922). After that, he came to deal with
late Cenozoic molluscs. The area of his
study was vast, extending from Sakhalin
to Taiwan, and the subject material
ranged in age from younger Quaternary
to Paleogene, but his efforts were concentrated
on the study of the latter half
of the Cenozoic era. His detailed reports
on the fossil molluscs of southern Kanto
are distinguished accomplishments. The
results of his energetic descriptions disclosed
the outline of late Cenozoic molluscs
of Japan and laid the foundation
of the present-day researches. A little
later than YOKOYAMA, Jiro MAKIY AMA
started his study of younger Cenozoic
molluscs, and he employed a new method
worthy of note. He restricted the area
of his study to a certain district where
he carried out precise field survey and
collected specimens, particularly in the
Kakegawa district. On the basis of the
material thus obtained, he endeavored to
establish detailed biostratigraphy (1925,
1927, 1931, et seq.). His reports on the
Miocene molluscs from the Korean Peninsula
(1926, 1936) deserve special mention.
He also introduced the biological concept
and technique into the study of fossils,
as will be described in the later section.
Takumi NAGAO studied at first the Cretaceous
molluscs under the guidance of
Hisakatsu Y ABE, but he later extended
his research work to the Paleogene molluscs.
His comprehensive description
(1928, et seq.) of molluscs from coal fields
in Kyushu on which the Paleogene biostratigraphy
was established proved an
important contribution. When the research
activity of YOKOYAMA was about
to cease, Shichihei NoMURA and Kotara
HAT AI began to study molluscs of
younger Cenozoic age and energetically
described the major fossil faunas of the
Tohoku district and many other parts of
Japan. NOMURA published the results of
his laborious work on the fossil molluscs
from Taiwan (1933, 1936) and on fossil
and living Pyramidellidae from Nansei
Shoto. HAT AI's description of living
molluscs from Micronesia was also a
distinguished achievement. Yanosuke
OTSUKA, like MAKIYAMA, endeavored to
establish detailed field stratigraphy and
biostratigraphy, and produced many noteworthy
results as represented by the
study on the northern Kitakami massif
(1934) and the Ochi Graben (1935).
Around 1940 Koichi SUZUKI described
Paleogene fresh-water molluscs from
Hokkaido and Kyushu, and Ken'ichiro
OT A TUME described Paleogene freshwater
molluscs mostly from Hokkaido.
In comparison with the 1930's, the number
of papers decreased during the wartime
days, but it was characteristic that
some papers dealt with the specimens
obtained outside the country, such as
those from the South Sea area (Ichiro
HAY ASAKA, et seq.) and from the Asian
Continent (OTSUKA, 1942; SUZUKI, 1942).
The study of Cenozoic fossil molluscs
was greatly pushed forward by the results
of the researchers of living molluscs.
Publication of J. THIELE's Handbuch
der systematischen Weichtierkunde,
Bd. 1 (1931) and Bd. 2 (1935) made an
epoch in the taxonomic study of molluscs
of the world, and with this as a turningpoint
the modern phylogenetic classification
began to spread in Japan. The
works of W. WENZ (1938-44) and A. ZILCH
(1959-60) in the form of Gastropoda
(Handbuch der Palaeozoologie, Bd. 6)

40 "MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
afforded an easier approach to the taxonomic
study of fossil gastropods which
the researchers had been liable to shun.
Tokubei KURODA is known as a leading
figure among the japanese re3earchers
on living molluscs, and his results largely
promoted the phylogenetic classification
of molluscs in Japan, though qis description
of fossil molluscs from Shinano
should not be overlooked either. In this
field, contributions of Kotora HA TAI,
Tadashige HABE and Katsura OYAMA
are also remarkable. The works that
played an important role in spreading
the Cenozoic molluscan researchers after
the war are ; the reclassification of fossil
molluscs from southern Kanto (Iwao
TAKI and OYAMA, 1954), the reclassification
of Cenozoic molluscs from southern
Kanto (MAKIYAMA, 1957-60), and the
re-examination of the japanese Paleogene
molluscs (OYAMA, Atsushi MIZUNO and
Toru SAKAMOTO, 1960).
The termination of the war was the
return of spring to the molluscs researchers
too. Differing from the prewar days,
the center of research was not restricted
to the afore-said three universities, and
a great many researchers at numerous
institutes competed with one another in
producing excellent results. However,
most of research works were intended
for biostratigraphy of different districts,
and were hardly expected to give rise to
phylogenetic classification, evolution and
paleoecology. The study of the Cenozoic
molluscs that had been apparently prosperous
for some time slowed down
rapidly within 10-odd years after the
war when the local biostratigraphy was
settled to some extent, and many researchers
parted from molluscs. Around
the year 1960, stratigraphic and descriptive
studies of the japanese Cenozoic
molluscs were nearing the saturation
point, as it were, with accumulating re-
cords of description and re-examination
of numberless local assemblages of fossil
molluscs. Representative works in this
field were; Kiyotaka CHINZEI on Sannohe
(1959, 1961), Shozo HAYASAKA on the
Atsumi Peninsula (1961), Katsumi HIRA­
YAMA on Arakawa (1954) and Asagai
(1955), Junji ITOIGA WA on Mizunami
(1955-63), Takehiko Iw AI on Tsugaru
(1964), Yasuhide IWASAKI on Shiobara
and corresponding areas (1970), Yasuhiko
KAMATA on joban (1962), Saburo KANNO
on Chichibu (1960), Yoshio KASE;\10 and
Nobuomi MATSUURA and Onma (1965),
Koichiro MASUDA on Toinnai (1966), Hiroshi
OZAKI on Choshi (1958), Tsugio SHU­
TO on Miyazaki (1955-62), Kunio TAN AKA
on Shinano (1959-60), Karyu TsuDA on
the Kurosedani formation (1959-60), Satoru
UOZUMI on Hokkaido (1957-66), and
MACNEIL on Okinawa (1960). In the
meantime, fossil molluscs of foreign countries,
mostly of Southeast Asia, were
began to be described, as exemplified by
the works of KANNO (1973-75) and Ko­
TAKA (1975) with the specimens from
Taiwan, and of IwASAKI (1970) and SHU­
TO (1969, 1971) with the Philippine specimens.
Specimens from Yakataga, Alaska
were studied by KANNO (1971), and Pectinids
of North America and North Pacific
Ocean by MASUDA (1970-73). These
studies, however, have not yet reached
the stage to establish satisfactory biostratigraphy
and paleogeography.
Phylogenetic classification is essentially
a comprehensive task, and so it ought to
be mentioned in the section of biostratigraphic
study. But it is touched upon
here because the proposed classification
is closely related to stratigraphic paleontology.
On account of the actively accumulated
data, phylogenetic examination
of taxonomic groups of various sizes
became possible in the 1960's. There
were, of course, some forerunning studieo

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 41
in this field, such as the works of Takumi
NAGAO and Kazuo FUJIOKA (1941)
on Acila and of Norio lKEBE (1942) on
Calliostoma. Notable among the postwar
achievements were the results of Kazuyoshi
IDA (1952) and Tamio KOT AKA
(1959) on Turritella, UOZUMI (1959) on
Yoldia and Portlandia, Koichiro MASUDA
(1962) on Pectinidae, Koji NODA (1966)
on Anadara, and Tokio SHIKAMA (1969)
on Fulgoraria.
The check list of the Japanese Cenozoic
molluscs (HATAI and Shozo NISHIYAMA,
1952) and that of the Japanese living
molluscs (Tokubei KURODA and Tadashige
HABE, 1952), published soon after
the end of the war, proved very useful
and greatly facilitated taxonomical and
biogeographic researches of Cenozoic
molluscs. Perhaps these check lists
marked a suitable end of the period of
biostratigraphic study.
Study of Mesozoic molluscs was started
by YoKOYAMA (1890) with his stratigraphic
descriptions of Cretaceous specimens
from U rakawa and other parts of
Hokkaido, but it did not become systematic
until Shingo Y. EHARA reported
on Trigoniinae (1915, 1923). Since Y.
EHARA's work, pelecypods of Palaeoheterodonta,
such as " Trigonia " and
"Unio ", became the major subjects of
study of Mesozoic molluscs by a large
number of researchers, so that it appeared
as if these pelecypods represented
Mesozoic molluscs. The prewar and
wartime achievements along this line,
besides the above-mentioned Y. EHARA's
work, were the reports of Teiichi KOBA­
YASHI and Koichi SUZUKI on Rakuto
[Nagdong]-Wakino (1936), Tetori (1937)
and Yamaguchi (1939), of Y ABE and Zi-iti
HAYASI on Manchuria (1938), and of Su­
ZUKI on Shiragi [Shiira] (1940), on the
Sungari series (1941) and the summary
of East Asian molluscs (1949); SuzuKI's
contributions were especially notable.
After the war, researches in this field
were expanded by Shiro MAEDA (1949,
et seq.), Mitsuo NAKANO (1957, et seq.),
Minoru TAMURA (1959, et seq.), Yoshihisa
0HTA (1959, et seq.), ltaru HAYAMI
(1962, et seq.), and S.-Y. Y AN (1974).
OHTA also re-examined corbiculids of
North America.
As for pelecypods of Pteriomorphia,
their stratigraphic value had been recognized
since early days, and much
efforts were made in the study of them.
The Cretaceous " Inoceramus" among
them was cl:l.ssified and stratigraphically
studied by Takumi NAGAO and Tatsuro
MATSUMOTO (1939-1940), and on the
Jurassic specimens similar results were
obtained by I. HA YAMI (1960). The
Triassic Pteriomorphia was first taken
up by T. KOBAYASHI (1935), and the
study was largely developed after the
war by Koichiro lCHIKA w A, TAMURA,
and Akira TOKUY AMA. The fact that
the researches on Mesozoic molluscs were
concentrated on the above-mentioned
taxonomic groups may be partly ascribed
to their abundant occurrences, but their
valuableness as index fossils must have
been the major reason.
Collective description of fossil assemblages,
treating them as a molluscan
fauna so to speak, commenced with the
work of Y ABE and NAGAO (1925) who
studied chiefly Cretaceous marine molluscs.
Faunal description of molluscs
advanced rapidly after the war, giving
rise to the study of paleogeography.
The Triassic molluscs were studied in
succession by NAKAZAWA, ICHIKAWA,
TAMURA, TOKUY AMA, the Jurassic ones
by TAMURA, HAYAMI, MAEDA, and the
Cretaceous ones by HAY AMI and ICHI­
KAwA and Yasuo MAEDA. Especially,
the systematic study by TAMURA and
HAY AMI is rated high.

42 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Mesozoic fresh-water molluscs of foreign
countries had been studied by japanese
paleontologists in the prewar and
wartime days, as mentioned before. After
the war many papers on marine molluscs
were written by TAMURA (1968, et seq.),
HAY AMI (1968, et seq.), and others in
Geology and Palaeontology of Southeast
Asia. In the Triassic system of Thailand
and Malaya, fossil faunas are being recognized
(KOBAYASHI and TAMURA, 1975).
Ichiro HAY ASAKA was the first to describe
Paleozoic molluscs of japan in
his study of pelecypods from Kitakami
and Ogachi (1923). Study of Paleozoic
molluscs made a start a little later than
that of Mesozoic and Cenozoic ones, but
its progress was extremely slow. In 1925
HAY ASAKA described part of the molluscs
from Akasaka Kinshozan, and published
a sequel of it in 1943. HAY ASAKA's
work was the one and only example of
the systematic description of Japanese
Paleozoic molluscs during the prewar to
wartime period. In 20 postwar years the
molluscs from Kitakami were described
by Masabumi MURATA (1964) and the
molluscs in the Akiyoshi limestone were
described by SHIKAMA and Tamio NISHI­
DA (1968) and NISHIDA (1968). Under
these circumstances, the work of NAKA­
ZAWA and N.D. NEWELL (1968) in summing
up the Permian molluscs of japan
was of great value. Molluscs of foreign
countries were mentioned by KOBAYASHI
(1930, 1931) in a part of his description
of Ordovician faunas of Korea and Manchuria.
There were some other brief descriptions
of them.
Series of biological study: Commencement
of biological study of fossil molluscs
dates back to the prewar days.
Using fossil and living Umbonium, MAKI­
Y AMA (1925) attempted to establish the
evolutional system, and inferred the
evolutional relations among the genera
of Umboniinae from the morphological
development of their shells. Later, he
discussed the series of evolution of
Siphonalia with the similar method (1941).
MAKIYAMA (1900) also tried to analyze
variation and affinity of populations by
means of statistical treatment of Glycymeris
yessoensis from different localities.
His work was by far advanced at
that time, and was followed by not a
few researchers in pursuing the evolutional
series of Umbonium with additional
material. Nevertheless, the importance
of morphological development as a phase
of ontogeny was not fully understood by
researchers in general, and morphology
was seldom put to practical use in classifying
and describing molluscs. It was
only after the war that the significance
of statistical and biological researches
was duly recognized and put in practice.
The same situation applies to the significance
of pelecypod fossils perforated by
predatory gastropods, as pointed out by
I. HAY ASAKA (1933). With these forerunning
works in the background, the
results of biological researches began to
be published after the war, particularly
from about 1953.
The year 1959 happened to be the
lOOth year since the publication of The
Origin of Species by Charles DARWIN.
This gave an impetus to enlightenment
movements and panel discussions on evolution.
One of the consequences of these
activities during the 1950's was the publication
of " Seibutsu Shinka " (Evolution
of Life), its first issue appeared in
October 1953. The journal offered a
common ground to biologists and paleontologists
for joint discussion. The first
wave of this stream was represented by
the works of KaT AKA on Anadara
granosa (1953) and Turritella (1954) and
Masae OMORI and Tsutomu UTASHIRO

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 43
on Pecten albicans (1954), who attempted
to pursue population changes and evolution
through statistical treatment of
living and fossil molluscs, and the work
of ICHIKAWA on Entomonotis (1954) in
pursuit of morphological variation of
groups with time. It cannot be denied
that the results of biological studies
which were still in the budding stage
are poorer than the contemporary results
of classification and description having
the long-standing tradition, but the abovementioned
works are worthy of notice
as being indicative of a trend of future
development. In the course of these
studies, the importance of speciation
and its mechanism as a vital point of
evolution came to be recognized, and
attempts were made to have a correct
understanding of speciation by means of
genetic and mathematic analyses of population.
I. HAY AMI improved the mathematic
method (1969, 1970, with Akihiko
MATSUKUMA) and paved a way for paleogenetics
(1973), thus providing a large
possibility for future studies. The excellent
analysis of Inoceramus (Sphenoceramus)
naumanni by Kazushige T A­
NABE (1973) stands on the same basis as
above. In dealing with the mechanism
of speciation, there is developing a trend
to grasp speciation ecologically, in view
of such biological concepts as sympatric
and allopatric populations (T. SHUTO,
1957), although any satisfactory results
are yet to come. SHUTO's work (1974)
discussing the relationship of embryonic
ecology and spaciation of gastropods may
be placed along this line.
In parallel with increasing efforts in
the study of evolution, researchers' interest
in paleoecology was growing. It must
be noted that the Matsukawaura Research
Group, a leading figure in the early part
of the history of paleoecological research,
pointed out the importance of compara-
tive study of living and fossil organisms,
and the consequent significance of taphonomy
(1954). Although no succeeding
works are reported as yet, taphonomy
is one of the challenging problems for
future studies. Paleosynecology, as a
branch of paleoecology, had been studied
since early days, but many of the papers
showed an inclination toward environmental
discussion (ITOIGAWA, 1959; Tsu­
DA, 1960; SHUTO, 1960; MASUDA, 1962;
etc.). It may be a natural consequence
that these studies were developed in the
manner of integrating paleogeography
and biostratigraphy, rather than aiming
at Paleosynecology itself. Studies in this
field are represented by the works of
CHINZEI and IWASAKI (1964), who analyzed
differentiation and variation of the
Neogene molluscan faunas of the Tohoku
district, and of Shigeru AOKI (1960) and
CHINZEI (1963) laying stress on variation
of assemblages. Faunal analysis from
association of species, feeding habit and
life form was attempted by SHUTO and
Shigemi SHIRAISHI (1971), which made
one step toward functional analysis of
ecological community, but it leaves room
for doubt that to what extent the analysis
of molluscs alone can be effective.
An approach to paleosynecology was
shown also by KoTAKA (1973) who employed
the statistic technique for analyzing
intraspecific assoc1at10n. The
works of HABE (1956) on thanatocoenosis
in bays and of Qy AMA (1950, 1953-1954)
who compared living and fossil communities
served as a flywheel for paleosynecologic
study.
Paleoautoecology has been studied on
the basis of individual life form or behavior,
feeding habit and functional
morphology. Life form or behavior of
pelecypods was studied by ITOIGAWA
(1963) on their wood-boring, by MASUDA
(1968-1972) on rock-boring, by UOZUMI

44 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
(1956) on borrowing and boring, and by
Iwao KOBAYASHI and OMORI (1973) on
pelecypod shells bored by coexisting
polychaetes. On feeding habit, Makiko
KOBA Y ASH! and l. KOBA Y ASH! (1971) examined
the relation between the predator
and its boring act, I. HAY AMI (1969)
studied the functional form of Mesozoic
planktonic pelecypods, and TANABE (1973)
discussed the life form of Inoceramus
from the viewpoints of its shape, shell
structure and relative growth.
Histological study and biochemical
study of fossils were introduced roughly
concurrently into the field of molluscs
paleontology. In the 1960's microstructures
of pelecypods were studied by
OMORI, I. KOBAYASHI and Matsutaro
SHIBATA (1962) and their biochemistry
by Masahiko AKIYAMA (1964). From the
start the microstructures were discussed
in connection with functions (OMORI and
KOBA Y ASH!, 1963 ; SHIBATA, KOBAYASHI
and Hisashi KAIBARA, 1968; OMORI, 1971).
Study of the microstructures was also
Trilobita: Trilobite researches in japan
can be divided into two groups, study of
japanese specimens and study of specimens
from abroad. When the history of
japanese trilobite researches is reviewed
by splitting it into four periods, the first
period is regarded as the dawning period.
The first record of trilobite is found in
"Die japanischen Inseln" by Toyokichi
* Department of Earth Sciences and Astronomy,
College of General Education, University
of Tokyo, Tokyo.
Arthropoda
Takashi HAMADA*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), 1976
united with biochemistry of organic
matter, and is being proceeded, heading
towards clarification of the shell-forming
mechanism (UOZUMI and Keiji IWATA,
1969 ; AKIYAMA, 1971 ; Hiroyuki HAT ANO,
1971). Also, elucidation of diagenetic
changes of conchiolin is under way
(IWATA, 1975).
When the 180 method was employed
for paleoclimatological analysis to obtain
information on paleotemperature of waters,
pelecypods were utilized as part of
the working material (Hitoshi SAKAI,
Kenji KONISHI and Osamu NAKAMICHI,
1969; Sumio HORIBE, Nobuaki NIITSUMA
and Toyosaburo SAKAI, 1969; Fujio
MASUDA and Kazuhiro TAIRA, 1974).
Biological study of fossil molluscs made
a remarkable progress in spite of its
young history. For some groups of molluscs,
however, researchers are still fumbling
in the darkness. so to speak. Really
useful biological results are yet to be
produced.
HARADA (1890), which mentioned PhilliPsia-ahnlichen
Trilobiten from Obama of
the Kitakami district. Afterwards, Permian
trilobites were reported by Kotora
]IMBO (1896, 1902), lchiro HAY ASAKA
(1933), and Takumi NAGAO (1931).
The second period was, so to speak, a
period of development, represented by
the works of Hisakatsu Y ABE and Toshio
SUGIYAMA (1938, 1940, 1941, 1944) following
the discovery of Siluro-Devonian
system in the Kitakami mountainland.
Phacops, Encrinurus and other trilobites

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 45
were reported from a stratigraphic standpoint.
Carboniferous Palaeophyllipsia
SUGIYAMA and OKANO (1944) was the
first trilobite genus established on the
basis of japanese material.
The third period, from 1950 to 1972, is
marked by accumulation of data. As the
occurrence of the Siluro-Devonian System
was reported also from the Outer Zone
of Southwest Japan and from the Hida
mountains, Encrinuridae, Cheiruridae and
Scutelluidae were discovered in succession.
Dechenella and Thysanopeltella
from the Kitakami mountainland were
described and re-examined. In the meantime,
Ryuji ENDO and Eiji MATSUMOTO
(1961) published a comprehensive report
on Carboniferous to Permian trilobites.
Description of Wenlockian Coronocephalus
kobayashii from Kyushu (Takashi HAMA­
DA, 1959) became the first report on complete
individuals with cephalon, thorex
and pygidium. Furthermore, Motome
HIRATA, Jun'ichi HAMADA and T. HA­
MADA (1967) listed up 9 genera and 12
species of Silurian trilobites from one
locality, and this fact must have rectified
the past erroneous idea that trilobites
were scarce in japan. Since then, data
and specimens began to be piled up
rapidly.
The fourth period, from 1973 on, is
characterized by animated discussions on
geologic ages and phylogeny of trilobites
referring to the specimens hitherto described.
"Silurian Trilobites of japan"
by Teiichi KOBAYASHI and T. HAMADA
(1974) was the first monograph ever published
in japan on japanese trilobites.
As many as 40 species were described
in the monograph. Thus, japan has come
to occupy a high place in the circum­
Pacific region, as well as in Asia, as
regards the occurrence of trilobites.
Materials of Devonian trilobites also have
been successively gained from the Hida
mount:lins (OKAZAKI, 1974; OKAZAKI,
TANAKA and TANAKA, 1975; KOBAYASHI
and HAMADA, 1975). The results have
been compiled into the second monograph
by KOBA Y ASH! and HAMADA entitled
"Devonian Trilobites of japan" (1975,
MS).
On the other hand, study of foreign
specimens by Japanese began with the
Cambrian trilobites from Northeast China
that were reported by KOBA Y ASH! (1930)
and R. ENDO (1932). Chinese specimens
were studied further by SAITO (1933),
ENDO (1935, 1939), and ENDO and RESSER
(1939). Before long, KOBA Y ASH! set about
his energetic researches on trilobites of
the East Asian continent. Since the prewar
days KOBA Y ASH! had been pursuing
the Cambrian to Ordovician trilobite
assemblages not only in China but also
in the Korean Peninsula, and published
many new views on higher taxa of trilobites.
As early as 1935, he distinguished
4 stocks, Agnostida, Redlichida, Corynexochida
and Ptychoparida, and discussed
fundamental problems in taxonomy of
trilobites. His conception is basically
taken up in " Treatise of Invertebrate
Paleontology, pt. 0, 1959 ". Ontogenesis
of Redlichia and Blackwelderia were explicitly
studied by KOBA Y ASH! and his
collaborator (1951).
These taxonomic studies of trilobites
were based on the descriptions of Cambrian-Ordovician
specimens not only from
the Chinese continent but also from
Tasmania, New Zealand, Australia, Yunnan-Tonkin,
Kashmir, Siberia, Yukon­
Alaska border, the Canadian Rockies, and
the vast circum-Pacific region including
Bolivia and Argentina of South America.
It is worthy of note that the studies dealt
with the materials of the circum-Pacific
region with Asia as its center, in spite
of the fact that the science of taxonomy
had been developed mainly with the

46 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
European materials.
The above-mentioned far-reaching
studies gave rise, as an inevitable consequence,
to discussions of geologic ages,
palaeogeography and palaeoenvironment
on the basis of trilobite assemblages, and
a number of important papers were published
with such themes as the Ozarkian
problem (1933), the significance of the
Masari facies in the Cambrian period
(1936, 38), the assumption of the Tsinling­
Keijo line in the Cambrian-Ordovician
period (1930), and the intercontinental
sea connections and provincialism (1944,
1965, 1970, 1971, 1972).
One of the remarkable achievements
of postwar researches on trilobites outside
Japan is the study of geology and
palaeontology of Southeast Asia. It began
with the work of KOBAYASHI (1956) describing
the Cambrian trilobites collected
by DEPRAT from the Tonkin-Yunnan
border area. In 1957, Upper Cambrian
trilobites from the Thai territory of the
Malay Peninsula were reported by KoBA­
YASHI- His report made a great contribution
to the geologic history of the older
folded mountains of Southeast Asia.
Since then, field survey in Southeast
Asia became active and the regional and
stratigraphic knowledge of trilobites
gained rapidly. In Geology and Palaeontology
of Southeast Asia, vol. 15 (1974),
as many as 64 species of trilobites were
listed up by KOBAYASHI and HAMADA.
Among them, 11 genera, 1 subgenus and
36 species are new taxa, including such
unique forms as Pseudotrinodus, Langgonia
and Prodontochile. The increasing
knowledge of these trilobites, along with
the progress of the study of Japanese
specimens, will throw a fresh light on
the older folded region of Asia. The
Ordovician-Silurian boundary problem
and the early Middle Devonian provincialism
were discussed on the basis of trilo-
bites (KOBAYASHI and HAMADA, 1974,
1975).
Crustacea : 1. Conchostraca : The first
description of Japanese fossil Conchostraca
is found in Matajiro YOKOYAMA
(1894). After a blank of 20 odd years,
OGAWA and WATANABE (1923) reported
2 species of Mesozoic Estheria from the
Korean Peninsula. It was followed by
the works of KoBAYASHI and his collaborators
(FUJITA, Kmo, T ANI, et a!.) who
studied the Mesozoic Conchostraca from
Northeast China, Korea and Southwest
Japan, over a period of about 10 years.
In 1954, KOBAYASHI published a comprehensive
paper on Conchostraca of the
world, dealing with 48 genera (including
subgenera) and 399 species (including
taxa of forms below species).
From about 1943, living Conchostraca
became the subject of study, and observations
and researches were made on the
characters of egg and shell, the sexual
dimorphism and the relation between
climate and life form, in parallel with
the study of Mesozoic specimens. The
results, compiled by Hisashi KusuMr
(1957), contributed a great deal to the
study of fossil Conchostraca.
In recent years Mesozoic fossils have
been reported from various parts of
Southeast Asia. KOBAYASHI (1973, 1975)
has pointed out that ancestral forms of
Order Conchostraca were sea-dwellers
during the Ordovician-Silurian period but
afterwards they were all fresh-water
forms, and that although they flourished
remarkably in the Mesozoic era they
vanished entirely in the Tertiary period
until they reappear as living forms of
today. His indications are important in
considering distribution and phylogeny
of Conchostraca.
Cambrian Tuzoia (ENDO and RESSER,
1912) from Manchuria and Lower Per-

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 47
mian Coreocaris (KOBAYASHI, 1937) from
Korea are two rare phyllocariids in East
Asia.
2. Ostracoda: The history of Palaeozoic
ostracods researches in Japan is still
young. The first recorded study is the
one by HAMADA (1959) who described
and taxonomically examined Devonian
"Leperditia" japonica. In the same paper
he proposed a new genus Pteroleperditia
based on an exhaustive investigation of
literature. Kunihiro ISHIZAKI (1963, 1964)
detected 7 genera, 18 species of silicified
ostracods from Carboniferous limestones.
His work was the first faunal description
of Japanese Palaeozoic ostracods. He also
found a Lower Permian fauna, described
10 genera, 19 species, and established a
new genus Hataiella (later emended as
Khataiella). From the Middle Permian
ISHIZAKI reported 13 genera, 22 species,
but the data are too local to be used in
discussion of Palaeozoic ostracod faunas
in Japan.
From the Sungari Group of Northeast
China, 8 genera, 13 species and 1 variety
of non-marine ostracods were described
by Tetsuro HANAI (1951). This was the
first account of Mesozoic ostracods by
Japanese, but it was no more than a
report of one isolated fauna, as was the
case with the Japanese Palaeozoic ostracods.
Cenozoic ostracods of Japan were first
reported by Jiro MAKIY AMA (1931) with
the specimens from the Pliocene Kakegawa
Group, but it was much later that
somewhat detailed description was given
by ISHIZAKI (1966). Under such circumstances,
a series of researches by HANAI,
with the results recorded in Studies on
the Ostracoda from Japan, I-V, was an
epoch-making achievement. Moreover,
HANAI (1959) published a bibliography
that contains all records of Japanese
living and fossil ostracods studies. In
his paper (1970) HANAI discussed schizodont
ostracods and readjusted this problematical
group, by referring to the carapace
and the appendages that are particularly
important in living species, as
well as to horizons and distributions of
fossil species. According to him, schizodont
ostracods can be divided into two
tribes, Schizocytherini and Paijenborchellini,
under Schizocytherinae, in spite of
the diversity of their surface ornamentations.
3. Cirripedia: Study of Cirripedia in
Japan is represented by a series of excellent
works of HIRo (=UCHINOMI) on
living species, while records of fossil
materials are very few inclusive of some
brief accounts on Coronula detached from
the skin of whale.
Quite recently, Toshiyuki YAMAGUCHI
(1971, 1973) collected and arranged Japanese
Tertiary to Quaternary balanids.
He re-examined living species and compared
them with the corresponding fossil
species. In describing 5 species of
balanids from the Miocene Mizunami
Group, he suggested that fossil balanids
can be useful for reconstruction of
paleoenvironment because they comprise
elements of warm current and those of
cold current.
4. Malacostraca: The history of decapods
studies in Japan was compiled by
Rikizo lMAIZUMI (1963). According to
him, the first description of Japanese
fossil Crustacea was made by DE HAAN
who mentioned Arges parallelus in
"Fauna Japonica" (P. F. VON SIEBOLD,
1833-51). Later, Tsune SAKAI (1939) confirmed
the occurrence of the same fossil
species in Hiejima Island of Kagawa
Prefecture.
Mesozoic crabs were recorded very
little. There was a report by JIMBO
(1894) on Eucorystes japonicus from the
Yubari district of Hokkaido. On Ceno-

48 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
zoic fossil crabs, IMAIZUMI published his
successive studies (1952, 1957, 1959, 1960,
1961, 1962 et seq.). Especially Carcinoplax
has been studied in detail.
With regard to fossil shrimp, NAGAO
(1931) reported Linuparus japonicus from
the Scaphites bed of Ikushumbetsu in
Hokkaido. Afterwards, IMAIZUMI (1938)
recorded three species of Astacus, late
Jurassic fresh-water shrimp, from Lingyuan
of Jehol, Northeast China. Records
of fossil shrimp are thus scarce including
a report by Hiroshi NIINO (1951).
Fossil isopods also are little known.
There is only a report by IMAIZUMI
(1953) on Bathynomus from Okayama
and Ishikawa Prefectures. Anomocardia
fossils were recorded in the papers by
NAGAO and Kazuo HUZIOKA (1938), NA­
GAO and 0TATSUME (1938) and NAGAO
(1932, 1941) reporting of Callianassa
species from the Oligocene to Miocene
beds in Hokkaido, by IMAIZUMI (1953,
1957, 1959) on Ctenocheles and Callianassa,
and by NISHIKAwA (1972) on unidentified
anomocarid crustaceans.
Insecta : The first account of Japanese
Mesozoic insects was given by Ienori
FUJIY AMA (1973) when he described
several species of Triassoblatta, Minesedes
and Ominea (Paraplecoptera), Jpsvicioides
(Hemiptera) and some species of
beetle from the upper Triassic of Yamaguchi
Prefecture. Prior to this, Ephemeropsis
nymph (mayfly) and Chresmoda
(Phasmid) from the late Jurassic of Jehol,
Northeast China, had been recorded by
Masuzo UENO (1935) and Teizo ESAKI
(1945).
Reports on Cenozoic insects have been
restricted to those of Neogene Tertiary
and younger ages in Japan. IMAMURA
(1974) has published a review of the past
studies. NAORA (1933) reported some
insects of Pleistocene and Miocene.
Lately, FUJIY AMA is devoting himself to
description of fossil insects, and through
his consecutive studies (1967, 1968, 1969,
1970, 1974) the presence of tropical insects
(Heliocopris, etc.) in the middle Miocene
has become known. HruRA (1971) also
has described a late Miocene carabid.
With regard to Pleistocene insects,
there are descriptions of dragonflies by
ESAKI and ASAHINA (1957) and ASAHINA
(1959), of bugs by OISHI (1931) and Hr­
URA (1961), and of a Papilio and a cicad
by FUJIY AMA (1968). Occurrence of
fossil insects in various parts of the
country has been reported by KINUGASA
(1974). Quite recently, nearly 50 families
of insects contained in Pleistocene amber
at Mizunami have been listed up (H!URA
and MIYATAKE, 1974 et seq.).
Other Arthropods: Lower Permian Euproops
(KOBAYASHI, 1933) from the Jido
Series in Korea is a sole representative
of fossil Merostomata in East Asia.
Fossil arachnids had been reported by
KISHIDA as early as 1920, but no definite
description of specimen was made until
a Pliocene spider from Hyogo Prefecture
was described by ARIT A and Y AMANA
(1970). From amber in the Mizunami
district, 11 species belonging in Acarina
and 6 species in Arenea have been recorded
(H!URA and MIYATAKE, 1974).
These specimens, along with those from
Shiobara (Tokio SHIKAMA 1965 ; Takashi
HAMADA, 1975), await detailed paleontological
studies.
On Myriapoda, too, fossil records are
scanty. SHIKAMA (1965) reported Diplopoda
from the Pleistocene cave deposits
in Ehime Prefecture, and H. MINATO
(1974) found Rhipidopeltis sp. in amber
of Mizunami. No other reports worthwhile
mentioning have been published
up to now.

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 49
Echinoids constitute a greater part of
fossil Echinodermata studied in Japan,
and they are mostly of Cenozoic age. It
is strange that no comprehensive reports
were written on crinoids in spite of
their abundant occurrence in the Permo­
Carboniferous system throughout the
country. There are several papers describing
crinoids, namely, by lchiro HA­
Y ASAKA (1924) on '' Actinocrinus" global us
from the Carboniferous Omi limestone
of Niigata Prefecture, by Hisakatsu Y ABE
and Toshio SUGIYAMA (1934) and by
Masao MINA TO (1951) on Actinocrinus
and Amphoracrinus from the Carboniferous
system of the Kitakami mountainland,
by Teiichi KOBA YASi:II (1935) on the
Jurassic Pentacrinus in Toyoura-gun of
Yamaguchi Prefecture and the Jurassic
Pseudosaccocoma from Sakawa of Kochi
Prefecture. Blastoid was recorded only
once when MINATO (1951) reported Nymphaeoblastus
from the Carboniferous system
of the Kitakami mountainland. Miocene
beds in variotfs districts are known
to contain some asteroids, such as Luidia
and Astropecten, with Amphiura and
other ophiuroids, but no scientific description.
of these fossils ·seems to have
been attempted so far. A· noticeable
achievement was the study ·of recent
species of ophiuroids . by Hikoshichiro
MATSUMOTO (1917) who turned from the
zoology course at the Tokyo Imperial
* Institute· of. Earth Sciences, Faculty of
Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya.
Echinodermata-History of Research
Akira MORISHITA*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), .1976
University to the paleontology course at
the Tohoku Imperial University. He described
88 genera, 232 species of ophiuroids
in the seas around Japan and indicated
their distribution.
Numerous papers were written on
fossil echinoids whose abundance ranks
probably next to fossil molluscs. The
first record was made by NAUMANN and
NEUMA YR (1890) in describing Cidaris
spines from Sakawa, Kochi Prefecture_
Kotora JIMBO (1894) described Ananchytinarum
from the Cretaceous of Hokkaido.
This was the first account of
fossil echinoids by Japanese. Since then,
fossil echinoids were dealt with by many
authors, namely, Shigeyasu TOKUNAGA
(formerly YOSHIWARA), Takumi NAGAO,
Syozo NISIY AMA (formerly AOKI), Yanosuke
0TUKA, lchiro HAY ASAKA, Akira
MORISHITA, Masao MINATO, Wataru
HASHIMOTO, Matsutaro SHIBATA, Keisaku
TANAKA, Masahiro OKUBO, Hiroshi
OzAKI, Toshio SAITO, Hiroshi UJIIE and
Toshio NISHIO.
The paper by TOKUNAGA (1903) is
important in that it drew up, for the
first time, a comprehensive list of Japanese
fossil echinoids of various geologic
ages. He described 25 species in 19·
genera of echinoids ranging in age from
Cretaceous to Pleistocene. Several years
ago, at the British' Museum (Natural
History)" in London I found that one
specimen of Astriclypeus integer, from
the Miocene series of Yamanashi Prefecture,
is accompanied by a note, dated

50 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
July 1899, sent from TOKUNAGA to Dr.
F.A. BATHER, an authority on echinoids.
The note reminded me of TOKUNAGA's
devotion to fossil echinoids. It is interesting
that TOKUNAGA and MATSUMOTO,
both distinguished experts on mammals,
produced achievements as pioneers in
echinoderms also.
A series of studies on fossil and recent
echinoids of Taiwan by HAYASAKA (1947-
1948, partly under joint authorship with
MORISHITA) should be put on record.
Since 1950, MORISHITA has been describing
fossil echinoids, mostly of Tertiary
age, from various parts of japan.
In 1960 he fixed their biostratigraphic
positions and listed up 30 genera, 65
species and 4 subspecies. He also discussed
their relation with lithology (1965)
and phylogeny of some of them (1963,
1964).
After all. things taken together, it is
undeniable that S. NISIY AMA is the representative
of echinoids researchers; His
consecutive studies, dating from 1935,
dealt mostly with specimens from northern
regions, such as the Tohoku district,
Hokkaido and Sakhalin, but some from
the Kanto district, Southwest japan and
the Bonin Islands were also studied.
NISIY AMA's results and the results of all
other authors were compiled into " the
Echinoid Fauna from Japan and Adjacent
Regions, Parts 1, 2 (Palaeontological Society
of japan, Special Paper, no. 11, 1966,
no. 13, 1968)", which Japan can boast to
the world as the most authentic edition
on echinoderms. In this edition NISI­
YAMA gave detailed descriptions of fossil
echinoids, amounting to 68 genera, 114
species and 11 subspecies (Paleozoic : 1
genus, 2 species, Mesozoic: 17 genera, 23
species, Cenozoic : 66 genera, 89 species,
11 subspecies), and discussed the characteristics
of echinoid fauna of fossil and
recent species.
However, paleoecology and evolution
of echinoids have been studied very little
in Japan. For future studies in these
fields, many stratigraphic problems have
to be solved first. For instance, Miocene
Astriclypeus, Echinolampas, Brissopsis and
Kewia should be duly evaluated as significant
and effective index fossils. Also,
extensive studies of other echinoderms
of abundant occurrence, such as Paleozoic
crinoids and Tertiary asteroids, are
required,
A Short History of Vertebrate Paleontology in Japan
The japanese Islands, unlike the continental
regions, are scarce of terrestrial
formations such as fresh water deposits.
Accordingly, fossils of land vertebrates
are extremely poor and most of them are
allochthonous. They are usually frag-
* Department of Geology and Mineralogy,
College of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
Tadao KAMEl*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), 1976
mentary and isolated, having been transported
over a long distance to be buried
in sediments. Moreover, they are often
deformed or broken by compression and/
or shearing stress caused by intensive
tectonic movements.
The scarcity of fossil vertebrates results
in the relative paucity of researchers
and research reports, which accounts

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 51
for the small rate of vertebrate paleontology
among the paleontological researches
in Japan. Nevertheless, Japanese
vertebrate paleontology had held an
internationally important position, based
on the geographical uniqueness of the
Japanese Islands, being located along the
border of the East Asian continent, and
has developed in its own way dealing
with meager materials. The history of
vertebrate paleontology in japan can be
divided into five stages (KAMEr, 1968),
but the present article reviews the
history in four periods by relating it to
the worldwide development of paleontology
and characteristic progress in japan.
The Initial Stage (1868-1900) : This
period is characterized by the research
work of foreign scientists. It was the
period of description. Before the Meiji
era, vertebrate fossils were mostly
treated as medicines due to the influence
of the Chinese thought, or as objects of
collection by amateurs or as treasures of
temples and shrines, seldom as the objects
of modern paleontology.
P.F. VON SIEBOLD, a German doctor in
the employment of the Dutch East India
Company, came to Japan in 1823 and
stayed until 1829. During his stay he
introduced japanese fauna and flora to
Europe. A fossil elephant that was
heaved up from the bottom of the Seto
Inland Sea in a fishing net was brought
by him to his country. This specimen
was described later by K. MARTIN (1887).
Prior to this, British paleontologist A. L.
ADAMS (1868) reported a fossil elephant
discovered in an area " between Edo and
Kanagawa ".
During this period, H. FALCONER and
R. LYDEKKER studied the Cenozoic mammalian
fossils from the Siwalik Hills of
India, and the vertebrate fossils from
China were introduced for the first time
by R. OWEN (1870). Also, there was the
work of K. MARTIN (1883-90) on the
Indonesian vertebrate fossils. Under
these circumstances, European researchers
were directing their attention to vertebrate
fossils in japan.
In 1872-74 the "Nihon Sanbutsu Shi"
(Products of Japan) written by K. ITO
was published from the Ministry of Education.
This book recorded some vertebrate
fossils. In 1877 when the Imperial
University of Tokyo was established and
the Tokyo Museum was opened, fossil
specimens were gathered and the situation
for research activity was improved.
Japanese mammalian fossils were described
by E. NAUMANN (1882) and D.
BRAUNS (1887), both German scientists
staying in Japan in those days, although
there was a large divergence of views
between the two on specific identification,
dating and paleoclimate. At any rate,
it was in this period that the study of
fossil proboscideans became an important
theme of vertebrate paleontology in Japan.
The Pioneering Period (1900-1920): Shigeyasu
TOKUNAGA and Hikoshichiro MA­
TSUMOTO left their footmarks as Japanese
researchers and as pioneers in vertebrate
paleontology of Japan. Both of
them were zoologists, in contrast to the
fact that Matajiro YoKOYAMA and Hisakatsu
Y ABE, pioneers in invertebrate
paleontology, were geologists.
ToKUNAGA, collaborating with Juzo
IWASAKI, described the fossil skull of a
large mammal which had been discovered
at Togari of Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture,
and assigned it to a proboscidean.
This was the first discovery of a skull
of Desmostylus (YOSHIW ARA [ = TOKU­
NAGA] and IWASAKI, 1902). Later, the
specimen's similarity to Desmostylus hespents
MARSH of California, North America,
was noted and it was recorded as

52 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
D. japonicus TOKUNAGA and IWASAKI
(1914). Before this, desmostylid molars
had been found in Shimane Prefecture
and Gifu Prefecture in about 1898, but
the study of desmostylids that are peculiar
to the North Pacific region became
an important theme of Japanese vertebrate
paleontology for the first time in
this period.
On the other hand, the extremely rich
contents of the fossil vertebrate fauna
of the Chinese continent were being disclosed
through the works of R. OWEN,
E. KOKEN, M. SCHLOSSER, 0. ZDANSKY
and others over a period, from the 1870's
to 1903. In 1903, Takuji OGAwA made
geological survey of Shantung and recorded
several mammalian fossils. H.
MATSUMOTO studied mammalian fossils
that had been collected from Si-chuan
and Honan. He pointed out that the
Mammalian fauna of Wan-xian in Sichuan
Province comprises two horizons,
" upper Pliocene" and " lower Pleistocene".
This was the first study which
referred to the geologic age of the Wanxian
fauna (H. MATSUMOTO, 1915a, b).
In the study of japanese fossil vertebrates,
it is important to consider them
in connection with those of East Asia.
This was done by H. MATSUMOTO (1915-
1930) who consciously dealt with proboscideans
and artiodactyls, particularly
bovine and cervine fossils.
Thus, in this period the research field
of Japanese vertebrate paleontology expanded
remarkably, with various subjects
such as fossil proboscideans, desmostylids,
artiodactyls-especially cervine
fossils-, and the faunal changes of the
vertebrates in Japan in relation to East
Asia.
The Summarizing and Developing Period
(1920-1945): Up to this time most of researches
were individual descriptions of
fossils, but during this period a new
direction of study came out ; on the basis
of hitherto accumulated materials the
taxa and their phylogeny were discussed.
With such tendency of research activity,
faunal descriptions were made and positioning
of faunas in the East Asian regions
was attempted. Furthermore, in
japanese vertebrate paleontology which
had been strongly bound with geology
was born an attitude turning toward
interdisciplinary researches to work in
concert with biology, medical science and
dentistry.
Till then, the Imperial University of
Tokyo where S. To'K:uNAGA taught and
the Tohoku Imperial University with H.
MATSUMOTO had been the center of vertebrate
paleontology in japan, but as
time lapsed into this period fossil vertebrates
began to be studied also at the
Kyoto Imperial University, Hokkaido
Imperial University and Waseda University.
H. MATSUMOTO published his views
on classification and phylogeny of fossil
proboscideans in a series of works with
japanese specimens including Moeritherium
and Palaeomastodon (1923, 1924a, b,
c, 1926a, b, 1929a, b). Jiro MAKIY AMA of
the Kyoto Imperial University published
a monograph (1938) on the fossil proboscideans
of the japanese Islands and
neighboring areas, mainly on the basis
of the material obtained from the bottom
of the Seto Inland Sea. The results of
these leading japanese paleontologists
were largely adopted. in " Proboscidea,
Vols. I, II, 1938-41" by H. F. OSBORN
who contributed to the study of proboscideans
of the world. It must be
mentioned here, however, that in classifying
proboscideans MAKIY AMA was a
Jumper in contrast to H. MATSUMOTO
who was a splitter.
Through the study of desmostylids, a

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 53
large quantities of materials were obtained
from various parts of japan and
from Sakhalin as well. An epoch-making
event was the discovery of a complete
skeleton at Keton of Sakhalin in 1933.
In those days views were diverse on the
taxonomic po3ition of desmostylid, but
the morphological study in japan was
initiated by H. MATSUMOTO (1918a). Late,
Takumi NAGAO of the Ho:(kaido Imperial
University studied the morphology of
Desmostylus teeth and its geological
significance (1935a, b, 1977a-d, 1941).
Shoji IJIRI worked on the dental morphology
and the histology of Desmostylus
(1937a, b, 1938a, b, 1939a, b, 1940). And
yet, description and restoration of the
Keton specimen remained undone.
Study of japanese cervine fossils began
with the work of H. MATSUMOTO (1918b,
1926c), which was succeeded by S. TOKU­
NAGA and Fuyuji T AKAI (1936, 1939),
Tokio SHIKAMA (1936a, b, 1937, 1938), and
25 species under 11 genera described so
far were summarized by SHIKAMA (1941).
During this period, excavation and investigation
of vertebrate fossils were
carried out on a large scope in various
districts of East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Especially the discovery of " Sinanthropus"
at Choukoutien in 1926 markedly
accelerated the progress of vertebrate
paleontology in the Chinese continent.
Chinese vertebrate paleontology was conducted
chiefly by the Cenozoic Research
Laboratory in Peking, which was established
in 1927, and by the Geological
Survey of China. Besides Chinese researchers,
a large number of western
scientists took part in the research work.
Japanese researchers also contributed
to the development of vertebrate paleontology
through their scientific activities
in Northeast China (Manchuria), Korean
Peninsula and Taiwan. For example, the
First Scientific Expedition to Manchou-
kuo conducted excavation at Kuhsiangtung
of South Manchuria in 1931. They
also carried out excavation at Tamalukou
of South Manchuria and at Dokantin of
North Korea, disclosing the Late Pleistocene
mammalian fauna (TOKUNAGA and
Nobuo NAORA, 1939). Ryuji ENDO and
T. SHIKAMA, working at the Central
Natural Museum of Manchoukuo that
was established in 1938, proceeded with
their study of fossil vertebrates. Noteworthy
achievements were the study of
the Djalainor skull (ENDO, 1945) and the
discovery of Endotherium (SHIKAMA,
1947), the oldest placental mammal, from
the Husin coal formation (Late Jurassic
to early Cretaceous). The study of the
Eocene mammals from the Hosan Coal
Fields of North Korea (SHIKAMA, 1943;
T AKAI, 1945) was important in the relation
with the Paleogene mammalian
fauna of Japan, as observed in the Ube
and lshikari Coal Fields. The mammalian
fossils of the Ryukyu Islands were studied,
too (TOKUNAGA, 1937, 1940; TOKU­
NAGA and TAKA!, 1939).
With regard to Reptilia, researches
were made on such specimens as Monjurosuchus
and jeholosauripus (ENDO and
SHIKAMA, 1942; SHIKAMA, 1942) and Teilhardosaurus
(SHIKAMA, 1947). In South
Sakhalin a complete skeleton of Nipponosaurus,
a kind of land dinosaur Trachodon,
was found and described (NAGAO,
1936, 1938) though its restoration was
not performed.
Fossil fishes from the Mesozoic of
Manchuria were described by T AKAI
(1941, 1942, 1943).
As specimens and information of East
Asian vertebrate fossils accumulated, it
became necessary to review and summarize
the existing materials. It was
done especially by comparing them with
those of japan and by clarifying the
position of japanese materials (T AKAI,

54
1938, 1939, 1941 ; SHIKAMA, 1941, 1942;
NAORA, 1943). It is interesting that at
about . the same time the. mammalian
fossils from the Chinese continent and
aqjacent regions were compiled by Teilhard
DE CHARDIN and P. LEROY into a
list entitled " Chinese Fossil Mammals"
(1942). The list also introduced Japanese
specimens fairly extensively.
Mentioned so far are the development
and the summary of the four major
themes of vertebrate paleontology in
Japan, that were presented in the preceding
period. But several new themes
were indicated in this period.
In the regions where marine deposits
are developed well, like the Japanese
Islands, study of marine fossil vertebrates
is important. Japan abounds in cetacean
and pinnipedian fossils, not counting
desmostylids. Fossil Cetacea was studied
first by MATSUMOTO (1917, 1926a, b),
followed by the works of MAKIY AMA
(1936) and NAGAO (1941). SHIKAMA and
D.P. DOMMING (1970) reported on a Pliocene
Sirenia Hydrodamalis which suggests
a relation to North America.
Then, differing from the past way of
individual description of fossils, a new
trend of study came out, as represented
by the description of the regional fauna
as a whole and its paleoecological study.
Along this line there was the work of
SHIKAMA on fossiliferous fissure deposits
of the Kuzuu Limestone. He made the
first report in 1937, but publication of
the comprehensive report had to wait
until the termination of the Second World
War (SHIKAMA, 1949). His work was the
first step toward the study of the Japanese
Quaternary vertebrates, in particular
the abundant fossils in cave
deposits, and it was important also in
the respect that it presented a problem
of the domain bordered by poleontology,
anthropology and archeology.
MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Shoji IJIRI, since 1936, has been conducting
histological and physiological
researches on the teeth of Desmostylus
and proboscidean fossils. Up to that
time, vertebrate paleontology in Japan
had been concerned mostly with description
of specimens from the biostratigraphical
viewpoint alone, but IJIRI's
work helped to develop methodology
which, by deliberating adopting biological
techniques, synthesized the biological and
geological methods (IJIRI, 1949).
Another advance was the approach to
the science of evolution from the field
of paleogeography. At this stage the
regional biogeography developed into the
historical biogeography. !; Biogeography
of Japanese Islands " by Mitoshi TOKUDA
(1941) exerted a large influence upon
geology, paleontology, and the science of
evolution, as well as upon biogeography.
The correlation of mammalian faunas
between East Asia and other continents
since the Mesozoic time was discussed
by SHIKAMA (1943) and TAKA! (1952).
Period of Expansion and Differentiation
(from 1950 on) : Intensification of the
Second World War and the chaos of
postwar days deteriorated the condition
of academic work and caused a temporary
paralysis of research activities.
The characteristics of the postwar research
work are, group studies, large
scale excavations and investigations,
comprehensive studies in various fields,
and activation of international scientific
interchanges.
In 1950, the Desmostylus Research
Committee (DEREC) was organized, the
main object of which was the study of
the skeleton of Desmostylus mirabilis
NAGAO that had been found at Keton of
Sakhalin and preserved at Hokkaido University.
With H. Y ABE as the chairman,
S. IJIRI, M. MINATO, T. SHIKAMA and F.

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 55
TAKA! proceeded with the study, which
was intended for development of one
major theme of japanese vertebrate
paleontology. It happened in the same
year that a complete skeleton of Paleoparadoxia
tabatai (TOKUNAGA) belonging
to Desmostylia was discovered at Toki
City of Gifu Prefecture. Part of the research
result on this specimen was published
(IJIRI and KAMEl, 1961 ; SHIKAMA,
1966).
Accompanying engineering works and
constructions that were being carried
out on a large scale, findings of fossil
proboscideans were frequently reported
from various parts of the country. Using
these specimens, a systematic study was
undertaken on Elephas (Palaeoloxodon)
naumanni MAK., a Pleistocene elephant
commonly found in japan. Yoshikazu
HASEGAWA (1972) studied the innumerable
specimens (Takao collection) obtained
mostly from the -bottom off Shodo
Island in Seto Island Sea, and revealed
their individual variation. The specimens
from the bottom of Lake Nojiri in Nagano
Prefecture and Churui of Hokkaido
were studied by Tadao KAMEl and Biroyuki
TARUNO (1971, 1973).
While the stratigraphical and chronological
studies of the Japanese Quaternary
were in progress, the biostratigraphical
study based on mammalian
fossils, mainly proboscideans, was conducted
(KAMEl, 1962; KAMEl and SETO­
GUCHI, 1970 ; SHIKAMA et. al., 1973).
With regard to fossil cervids, early
Pleistocene specimens obtained mainly
from the Kuchinotsu formation of Kyushu
were studied by Hiroyuki OTSUKA
(1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972). Also,
there are the works on late Pleistocene
Megaloceros and Alces (SHIKAMA, 1958,
1962; MATSUMOTO et al., 1959; KAMEl,
1958; HASEGAWA, 1968 ; Shingo 0NODERA,
1970).
A significant development during this
period was the study of Quaternary
mammalian fossils in cave and fissure
deposits. It began with SHIKAMA's "The
Kuzuu Ossuaries" (1949), but NAORA
(1954) also made a comprehensive study
on specimens from various parts of the
country. Later, the presence of rich
fauna was reported from Same Cave in
Shiga Prefecture (SHIKAMA et al., 1952),
from Mikatagahara in Shizuoka Prefecture
(SHIKAMA et al., 1955), from Akiyoshidai
in Yamaguchi Prefecture (SHI­
KAMA and 0KAFUJI, 1957, 1958), from
Kumaishi Cave in Gifu Prefecture (OKU­
MURA, 1973), and from Okinawa-jima and
Miyako-jima (HASEGAwA. et al., 1973).
The analysis of fauna in these cave deposits
offered much information on smaller
fossils, such as insectivores and
primates (HASEGAWA, 1957 ; SHIKAMA
and HASEGAWA, 1958; HASEGAWA et al.,
1968; IWAMOTO and HASEGAWA, 1972;
IWAMOTO and TAKA!, 1972). This made
it possible to study micro-mammals which
had been considered a difficult task for
the japanese vertebrate paleontologists.
· The above-mentioned research works
let to synthetic studies connected with
anthropology and archeology. Such studies
resulted in the discovery of human
bones of late Pleistocene age from the
limestone area of the Tokai district and
from the fissure deposits in limestone of
Okinawa-jima. These bones, though fragmentary,
were named Mikkabi Man,
Hamakita Man, Ushikawa Man and Minatogawa
Man, according to their localities
(Hisashi SUZUKI, 1962 ; T AKAI, 1966;
Naotsune WATANABE, 1973). An early
discovery of fossil man was made in 1931
when N. NAORA found a hipbone at the
Akashi coast of Hyogo Prefecture. The
bone was assigned to early Pleistocene
age (Kotondo HASEBE, 1956), but its
exact horizon remained unconfirmed.

58 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
terns of the Shimanto Terrain in Shikoku
and from the Miocene Series of Wakayama
Prefecture, and Keisaku TANAKA's
work, 1970, on those from the Cretaceous
system of the Ikushunbetsu district.
Hokkaido). In the Treatise, HA.NTZSCHEL
(1962) re-examined Manchuriophycus
(Ryuji ENDO, 1933), Notaculites (Teiichi
KOBAYASHI, 1945) and Magarikune (Masao
MINATO and Kunio SUYAMA, 1949)
that were the forerunning results on
Japanese "trace fossils".
As Ichir6 HAYASAKA (1957, 1960) pointed
out the ichnological researcher is
required to possess knowledge of living
forms and to conduct careful observation
of the tidal zone for understanding the
taxonomical problems of these fossils.
In comparison with the European study
on these fossils contributing a great deal
to reconstruction of paleoenvironment
and to paleogeographical analysis, the
Japanese one produced few reports and
is still backward in the line, although
some noticeable results have been pub-
Before World War II, few reports were
made on Paleozoic plants of Japan. Japanese
paleobotanists were dealing mainly
with the Upper Paleozoic plants from
Korea and China. It was only after the
war that Devonian plants were discovered
in I wate Prefecture, followed by the
discovery of well-preserved Permian
plants at Maiya of Miyagi Prefecture.
These findings proved that Paleozoic
* Department of Paleontology, National
Science Museum, Tokyo.
Paleozoic Plants
Kazuo ASAMA *
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
lished by HAT AI and his collaborators,
who studied problematical fossils ranging
from the Permian (HATAI and MURATA,
1971; HATAI, Masafumi MURATA and
KAWAKAMI, 1972; HAT AI, Tamio KOTA­
KA and NonA, 1972) to the Jomon age
(HATAI, 1970), with a view that the fossils
would be significant enough if they
were distinguishable by morphological
characters and were effectively used in
geology. They are in continuous pursuit
of paleoecological-paleoenvironmental
signficance of problematical fossils.
In contrast with the European new
method which introduced functional elements
into the conventional morphological
classification, HATAI and NODA
(1975) showed a new approach to the
study of trace fossils using Terebellina.
It ts very desirable for the propagation
of these paleoichnological fossils that
they are introduced much more in paleontological
texts or illustrated books (KA­
TTO, 1973a, b, 1974; Tokio SHIKAMA,
1975; UTASHIRO, 1971).
plants are distributed in Japan. Later,
Devonian plants were reported also from
Kochi Prefecture of Shikoku. The presence
of Gigantopteris nicotianaefolia and
Bicoemplectopteris hallei in the Upper
Permian system of Fukushima Prefecture
was recorded. Since these species are
the representative constituents of the
Gigantopteris flora that characterizes the
Upper Shihhotse Series in Shansi Province
of China, it became evident that the
Upper Paleozoic plants in Japan belong
to the Gigantopteris flora.

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 59
Devonian plants: The first record of
Devonian plants in Japan was made by
Koichi T ACHIBANA (1950) who described
Leptophloeum cfr. australe and Cyclostigma
sp. from the Upper Devonian
of Iwate Prefecture. Motome HIRATA
(1966) reported Leptophloeum rhombicum,
Lepidodendropsis sp. and Dometria sp.
from Kochi Prefecture, revealing the fact
that the distribution of Upper Devonian
plants is not limited to the Tohoku district
but extends to the Shikoku district
in the south.
Upper Paleozoic vascular plants: (Lower
Carboniferous plants in Malaysia): Lower
Carboniferous plants are not known in
Japan or Korea. The Lepidodendmpsis
flora that was distributed from central
China to Yunnan is found in Malaysia,
as Lepidodendropsis and Lepidodendron
occur at Kuantan of Pahang Province
(ASAMA, 1973).
(Cathaysia flora in East Asia excluding
japan): The name Cathaysia flora was
proposed by Thore G. HALLE (1937) for
the Carboniferous to Permian plants of
East Asia. The Cathaysia flora, in its
early stage, was close to the Euramerian
flora, but with the passage of time it
came to have an East Asian character
represented by Gigantopteris nicotianaefolia
and Lobatannularia heianensis.
Therefore, the later stage of the Cathaysia
flora is known by the name GigantoPteris
flora. The large simple leaf plant,
Gigantopteris nicotianae folia, representative
of the Gigantopteris flora, was recorded
first from Hunan of China by A.
SCHENK (1883). G. nicotianaefolia was
described also from Mun-gyong of Korea
by Hisakatsu Y ABE (1908). David WHITE
(1912) reported G. americana from North
America. He considered that this plant
had migrated from East Asia into North
America via the Bering Strait. Y ABE
(1917) discussed the distribution of
Gigantopteris and mentioned that this
plant recorded in North America is of
Lower Permian age whereas the plant
in China and Korea belongs to Lower
Triassic. But, it was the voluminous
work of HALLE (1927) on the flora of
Shansi Province that revealed the whole
aspect of the Upper Paleozoic plants in
East Asia.
Shigetaro KAwASAKI (1927) established
a new genus Lobatannularia which preceded
HALLE's Annularites in the date
of publication. KAWASAKI gave the full
picture of the Heian System of Korea
through his studies (1931-1934), partly
under joint authorship with Enzo KoN'
NO. KAWASAKI's work is comparable to
HALLE's study on the flora of central
Shansi. KAwASAKI pointed out that the
flora of the Kobosan Series, uppermost
member of the Heian System, includes
Gigantopteris, similar to the flora of the
Upper Shihhotse Series of China, and it
shows some features common with the
Gondwana flora. KoN'No (1960) recorded
Schizoneura manchuriensis from the Penchi
coal field of northeastern China and
showed that the plant, which is undistinguishably
similar to Schizoneura of
Gondwana in external appearance, was
distributed as far north as Manchuria.
KoN'NO (1968) also reported the flora
that contains Lobatannularia, Gigantopteris
and Rhipidopsis at Kaishantun on
the eastern border of Northeast China.
He considered that the Gondwana elements
in China and Korea, such as
Schizoneura and Rhipidopsis, migrated
from Gondwanaland into Cathaysia land
during the Kungro-Kazanian interval
(KON'NO, 1960, 1963, 1966).
Genichi KOIDZUMI (1936) maintained
that the specimens hitherto reported as
Gigantopteris from China, Korea, Sumatra
and North America were too much diverse
to be included in one genus, and

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 61
LER (1877) on the Tetori-type flora, and
by A.G. NATHORST (1890) on the Ryoseki-type
flora. Since that time to the
beginning of the 20th century the research
work was succeeded by Matajiro
YOKOYAMA and Hisakatsu YABE, then
resumed by Y ABE's students Seido ENDO,
S. ToYAMA, Saburo OISHI and Misaburo
SHIMAKURA. Research activities of these
palaeontologists covered not only Japan
but also China and Korea.
YOKOYAMA described the Tetori-type
flora in 1889, the Ryoseki-type flora in
1894, and the late Triassic flora of Yamaguchi
Prefecture in 1905. These pioneer
works of YoKOYAMA were supplemented
by Y ABE. In 1913 Y ABE described the
Ryoseki-type flora from Omoto, Iwate
Prefecture, and in 1922 he described the
Japanese, Chinese and Korean Mesozoic
plants preserved at Tohoku University.
In 1927 Y ABE published a comprehensive
study of the Japanese Cretaceous System,
accompanied by description of some Cretaceous
plants. Y ABE and TOYAMA (1928)
reported early Cretaceous algae from
Iwate Prefecture.
Mesozoic plants of Japan are mostly
impressions, retaining no texture, except
for some specimens from limited localities.
M. C. STOPES (1909) and STOPES
and K. FUJII (1910) studied the specimens
obtained from the Upper Cretaceous System
of Hokkaido, and made a histological
study for the first time in Japan.
OISHI, working either by himself or in
collaboration with Kazuo HuzroKA and
Eitaro TAKAHASHI, described the following
floras from various parts of the
country and largely contributed to the
development of the Japanese Mesozoic
palaeobotany.
Middle to late Triassic floras: Nariwa
flora of Okayama Prefecture (OISHI, 1930,
1931, 1932; OISHI and HUZIOKA, 1935,
1938), floras of Tsubuta, Habu and Mine
Groups of Yamaguchi Prefecture (OISHI,
1932; OISHI and TAKAHASHI, 1936), Shitaka
flora of Kyoto Prefecture (OISHI,
1932).
Early Jurassic floras: Kuruma flora
of Nagano Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture
(OISHI, 1931), flora of the Nishinakayama
Formation of Yamaguchi Prefecture
(OISHI, 1935).
In addition to the above, they made
palaeobotanical studies on Fraxinopsis and
Y abeiella (OISHI, 1931), Zamiophyllum
(OISHI, 1939), Swedenborgia (OISHI and
YAMASHITA [=HUZIOKA], 1935), Die/yozamites
(OISHI, 1936), and Dipteridaceae
(OISHI and YAMASHITA, 1936). Enzo
KoN'No (1944) discussed the phylogeny
of Swedenborgia, and HuziOKA (1938,
1939) described Matoniaceous ferns from
the Nishinakayama Formation and the
lower Monobegawa Group of Kochi Prefecture.
Summarizing the above-mentioned results,
OISHI (1940) published his comprehensive
paper on the Mesozoic plants
of Japan and Korea. He divided the
Mesozoic plants of Japan and adjacent
regions into Dictyophyllum, Onychiopsis
and Angiosperm Series. Chronology of
the Japanese Mesozoic plants owes a
great deal to Teiichi KOBAYASHI (1938,
1942). In the present paper, the ages of
the respective floras are based on the
latest results.
After the work of ENDO (1925), the
study of the late Cretaceous flora made
little progress. Kan KORIBA and Shigeru
MIKI (1931) reported Archaeozostera from
the Izumi Sandstone. Yuzuru OGURA
(1927, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1941) and
SHIMAKURA (1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937,
1939, 1941) largely contributed to the
study of Mesozoic fossil wood in Japan.
They dealt not only with Japanese specimens
but also with materials from China
and Korea.

62 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
Fossil plants of the adjacent regions
became the subject of study in addition
to the Japanese ones. YoKOYAMA (1906)
studied Jurassic and Cretaceous plants
obtained from Yun-nan, Ssu-ch'uang,
Chian-hsi, Shan-tnng and Liao-ning of
China. Jurassic to early Cretaceous plants
were studied also by Y ABE (1908, 1922),
Y ABE and ENDO (1934, 1935), Y ABE and
OISHI (1928, 1929, 1933, 1938), OISHI (1933,
1935, 1941), TOYAMA and OISHI (1935),
OISHI and TAKA HASH I (1938), and
KOBAYASHI and YOSHIDA (1944), and the
area of study expanded as far as the
northeastern region. The histological
study of Ginkgoales by OISHI (1933) is
related high as a great contribution.
Korea has the Daedong flora ranging
in age from Triassic to early Jurassic,
the early Cretaceous Nagdong (formerly
Naktong) flora, and the late Cretaceous
Silla flora. The Daedong flora was
studied by YABE (1922), Shigetaro KAwASAKI
(1925, 1926, 1939) and KON'NO
(1944), the Nagdong flora by Y ABE (1905,
1922), lwao TATEIWA (1929) and OISHI
(1939, 1940).
From 1945 on: After 1945, study of
fossil plants by Japanese researchers was
discontinued for a while. But before
long, research work was started by
TAKAHASHI, HUZIOKA, KON'NO, Kazuo
ASAMA, Toshitsugu OYAMA, Hidekuni
MATSUO, and Kazuo OMURA, M. NISHIDA,
K. TAKAHASHI, KIMURA and Shinji SE­
KIDO, and has been continued up to now.
TAKAHASHI, with Goro 0KAFUJI and
other collaborators, studied the midele to
late Triassic flora of Yamaguchi Prefecture
and the Jurassic flora in the Higashinagano,
Nishinakayama, Utano and
Kiyosue Formations, and clarified the
stratigraphic distribution of plant species.
He also discussed the post-Mesozoic floral
variation in Southwest Japan(TAKAHASHI,
1949, 1950, 1951, 1957, 1967, 1973; TAKA­
HASH! and G. NAITO, 1950; TAKAHASHI
and 0KAFUJI, 1967, 1968, 1970 ; TAKA­
HASH! et a!., 1965).
KoN'No (1949, 1962, 1968) and KoN'No
and NAITO (1960) carried out detailed
palaeobotanical studies on fructifications
of plants, particularly of Articulates and
Coniferales, and opened up many new
fields of science. Furthermore, they
added new knowledge to the morphology
and classification of Dipteridaceae.
KoN'No (1972) described Pleuromeia and
Neocalamites from the lower Triassic
System of Miyagi Prefecture.
The Nariwa flora was added with
several genera and species by Nobuo
KOBA TAKE (1954), TAKAHASHI (1952)
and HUZIOKA (1970).
KIMURA (1959) described the early
Jurassic flora discovered in Gumma
Prefecture and the early Jurassic flora
of Niigata Prefecture, and he discussed
distribution, floral composition and characteristics
of early Jurassic plants of Japan.
In the wake of OISHI (1938), KIMURA
discussed the relationship between the
Lepidopteris zone and the Thaumatopteris
zone (T.M. HARRIS, 1937) in Japan. Kenji
KONISHI (1952) discovered and reported
the early Jurassic flora in Okayama
Prefecture. The Ryoseki-type flora is
known to occur in the upper Jurassic
System of the Outer Zone of Japan, in
the lower Cretaceous Ryoseki Group, and
in the lower Monobegawa and upper
Monobegawa Groups. The Ryoseki-type
plants of late Jurassic age were partly
studied by 0Y AMA (1954) and ENDO
(1952). ASAMA (1968) discussed the relationship
between the evolution of
Nilssonia and the climate.
KIMURA, cooperated by Motome HIRATA
andY. KANSHA, clarified the stratigraphic
distribution of Ryoseki-type plants, and
described some new genera and species

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 63
(KIMURA and HIRATA, 1975). HUZIOKA
(1973) reported W eichselia for the first
time from Japan.
NISHIDA (1960, 1962, 1965-1973) described
the Ryoseki-type plants and as
many as 30 species of ferns and wood of
Coniferales from the upper Monobegawa
Group in the Choshi Peninsula of Chiba
Prefecture. Kiyoshi TAKAHASHI (1972)
discerned pollen and spore fossils from
the upper Monobegawa Group of Iwate
Prefecture.
TheTetori-type plants are distributed in
the central part of Honshu of the Inner
Zone, ranging in age from late Jurassic
to early Cretaceous. The Kiyosue flora
of Yamaguchi Prefecture is of the Tetori
type. The so-called Tetori-type plants
distributed in Gifu, Nagano, Toyama,
Ishikawa and Fukui Prefectures are
divided stratigraphically into four floras,
Kuzuryu, Oguchi, Akaiwa and Tamodani,
by their compositional characteristics
(KIMURA, 1975).
The Kuzuryu flora of late Jurassic age
was described by KIMURA (1958, 1959).
The Oguchi flora constituting the main
part of the so-called Tetori flora, was
described in the papers of GEYLER,
YOKOYAMA, YABE, and OISHI. MATSUO
and OMURA (1968), KIMURA (1961), and
KIMURA and SEKIDO (1965-1975) amended
past descriptions of the flora, and additionally
described many palaeobotanically
interesting genera and species. OGURA,
KOBAYASHI and Shiro MAEDA (1951)
described Xenoxylon. The Oguchi flora
and the Akaiwa flora represent the early
and the late Neocomian respectively,
and their comprehensive study is under
way by KIMURA and SEKIDO. The
Tamodani flora of late Early Cretaceous
age was described by KIMURA (1975).
Late Cretaceous plants including angiosperms
are found at Hakobuchi of
Hokkaido, Kuji of Iwate Prefecture, Oarai
of Ibaraki Prefecture, Omichidani along
the Ishikawa-Fukui prefectural border,
upper reaches of the Asuwa River in
Fukui Prefecture, Kamogata of Okayama
Prefecture, Suritaki of Hiroshima Prefecture,
Kotsuki district of Nagasaki Prefecture,
and in the Izumi Sandstone as
well as in Wakayama, Hyogo and Ehime
Prefectures.
MATSUO (1954, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966,
1970)described the Asuwa and Omichidani
floras and part of the plants in the Izumi
Sandstone. He also described the distribution
and age of the late Cretaceous
plants in Japan.
0Y AMA (1958-1963) and 0Y AMA and
MATSUO (1964) described the Oarai flora.
OYAMA (1962, 1963) also described part
of the Kamogata flora.
There are the works of ENDO (1959)
on part of the Suritaki flora, of KORIBA
and MIKI (1958) on Archaeozostera from
the Izumi Sandstone, of T A TEIW A (1933),
K. TAKA HASH I (1958) and KON'NO (1962)
on the Kotsuki flora. The age of the
Oarai and Kotsuki floras is possibly
Tertiary.
Besides the above studies, K. TAKA­
HASH! (1964, 1965, 1967) described the
upper Cretaceous pollen-spore flora of
Hokkaido, and discussed the distribution
of pollen-spore flora in the Aquillapollenites
area. A. MIKI (1971, 1972) described the
pollen-spore flora in the Kuji Group of
Iwate Prefecture.
The object of study was not restricted
to Japan but was extended to Southeast
Asia, Korea, and even as far as South
America.
T. AKAGI (1954) described the late
Triassic flora of the Hongay Coal Field.
KoN'No and ASAMA described the late
Mesozoic flora of Malaya (KoN'No, 1967,
1968; ASAMA, 1974), the early to late
Mesozoic floras of Thailand (KoN'No and
ASAMA, 1973; ASAMA, 1974), and the late

64 MATSUMOTO; T. et al., edit.:
Triassic flora of Kalimantan, each time
in cooperation with the scientists of the
respective nations.
KoN'No (1962) described some species
and discussed the stratigraphic distribution
of the plant species in the Daedong
Group. The study of the Daedong
Studies of leaf and seed floras: (The first
period) : Study of Cenozoic plants of
Japan was initiated by A.G. NATHORST,
C. ETTINGSHA USEN and other foreign
researchers. NA THORST (1883) studied
the Pliocene plants collected from the
Mogi coast of Nagasaki City by the
Swedish Vega Expedition. This was the
first detailed account of Tertiary flora in
Eastern Asia, and it attracted attention
of European paleobotanists (SAPORTA,
1883, 1884; ETTINGSHAUSEN, 1883). Later,
NATHORST (1888) studied the Cenozoic
plants collected from various parts of
Japan by the staff of ·the Geological
Survey of Japan at that time, and arranged
them by localities. For a long
period since then, these two works of
NATHORST have served as a guide to
the studies of Japanese Cenozoic plants.
A.N. KRYSHTOFOVICH, who stayed in
Japan from 1917 to 1918, examined fossil
plants preserved at the Geological Institute
of the Tokyo Imperial University
and at other institutions, and wrote
several reports on them (1918-1930). R.
FLORIN re-examined the ·specimens from
* Department of Geology and Mineralogy,
Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University,
Sapporo.
Cenozoic Plants
Toshimasa T ANAI*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N.S., (lOOs), 1976
flora is being continued by KIMURA ·and
B. K. KIM. KIMURA and C. VERGARA
found abudant late Cretaceous plants in
Quiriquina Island of Chile (in MAEDA,
Takashi HAMADA, Takeshi CHISAKA, KI­
MURA and H. TATSUKE, 1972).
Mogi, and published a detailed report on
them and on the specimens from Amakusa
and Hirado of Kyushu and from
the environs of Shimonoseki (1920). In
those days his work was an advanced
study as it not only described the specimens
but also discussed paleoclimate by
comparing fossils with living vegetation
of Japan.
(The second period): Thus, until about
1920, it was by paleobotanists of foreign
countries that the Cenozoic plants of
Japan were introduced to the world.
After 1920, Japanese researchers began
to study Mesozoic and Paleozoic plants
of Eastern Asia including Japan, but the
studies of Cenozoic plants were still much
behindhand.
Since 1928 Seido ENDO published the
results of his studies, mostly descriptive
works, on Cenozoic plants, and revealed
a large number of extinct plants that
had existed in the Tertiary period of
Japan, Korea and Manchuria. Especially
his discussion of paleoclimate (1935) based
on the comparison of the Pleistocene flora
of Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecfure, with
living forest composition indicated a
direction of studies of Cenozoic floras.
Though ENDO dealt with fossil plants

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 67
The first report of the results was published
in 1963, which gave detailed accounts
of Miocene floras of southwestern
Hokkaido (T ANAl and N. SUZUKI), of
central Akita Prefecture (HUZIOKA), and
of Noto-nakajima, Ishikawa Prefecture
(MATSUO). The report disclosed that
the forest composition was different, both
latitudinally and altitudinally, in middle
Miocene time (T ANAl, 1967b). As part
of the comparative study, MIKI and
KoKA w A (1962) made a comprehensive
report on late Cenozoic floras of Kyushu.
The study was further extended to
various horizons in many parts of Japan,
producing detailed reports on the Miocene-Pliocene
floras of northeastern Hokkaido
(T ANAl and N. SUZUKI, 1965), on
the Miocene floras in the northern part
of the Nato Peninsula (Shiro ISHIDA,
1970), and on the Paleogene floras of
the Kushiro coal-field, Hokkaido (T ANAl,
1970), the Ube co3.l-field, Yamaguchi
Prefecture (HuzroKA and Eitaro TAKA­
HASHI, 1970), the Takashima coal-field,
Kyushu (MATSUO, 1967). These reports
were compiled into " Tertiary Floras of
japan, vol. 2" (1972). Through the above
works the Tertiary floral sequence of
japan was established as a standard of
Eastern Asia, and the results obtained
so far were summed up on the basis of
the relations between the floras and the
paleogeographical and paleoclimatological
changes (T ANAl, 1967a, 1972; TAN AI and
HUZIOKA, 1967).
Since the latter half of the 1960's, the
study of Tertiary floras turned from the
descriptive works to the analysis of
vegetation and paleoclimate. Miocene
floras were the major subject of research
owing to their abundant occurrence.
There are the works on Miocene plants
from the San'in district (Y. HOJO, 1973),
from Hokkaido (TANAI, 1971; TANAI and
N. SuzuKI, 1972), from Gumma Prefec-
ture (K. SUZUKI et a!., 1970), from Akita
Prefecture (HuzrOKA and Kazuhiko UE­
MURA, 1973), from the environs of Shimono3eki,
Yamaguchi Prefecture (Huzr­
OKA and TAKAHASHI, 1973), from Yamagata
Prefecture (Toru ONOE, 1974), and
many other studies. HuzroKA (1972)
published a comprehensive report on
Miocene floras of Korea.
Study of Paleogene floras is still much
behindhand because of the difficulties
in specific identification. Nevertheless,
there are some reports by MATSUO on
the Sakito coal-field, Kyushu (1970), the
Kishima coal-field, Kyushu (1971), on
Tsushima (1971), and by ENDO on the
Ikushumbetsu formation of the Yubari
coal-field, Hokkaido (1968).
With the late Pliocene to Quaternary
floras, detailed researches are being conducted
on the floral composition and the
paleoclimate, along with the stratigraphic
re-examination of fossil plant-bearing
beds. Distinguished reports were made
by H. NIREI on the environs of Takatsuki
City, Osaka Prefecture (1968), on
the environs of Kanazawa City (1969),
by SUZUKI and NAKAGAWA on the environs
of Tsukahara, Fukushima Prefecture
(1971),. by Keisuke KURODA on the
Atsumi Peninsula, Aichi Prefecture (1966-
1967), and by ONOE on the environs of
Ebino City, Miyazaki Prefecture (1971).
KoKA w A, succeeding MIKI, continued to
work on seed flora and published his
detailed descriptions of Holocene floras
in the Boso Peninsula and the environs
of Hamamatsu City (1964, 1967).
Anatomical studies of fossil wood: Morphological
study of Cenozoic woods in
japan is not as active as that of fossil
leaf and seed, but its history is rather
long. It began with the report by K.
REISS (1907) of Germany, who described
Cretaceous to Tertiary woods that were

68 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
collected in the course of mineral resources
surveys in various parts of Hokkaido.
After that, researches on fossil
wood were conducted mainly with Mesozoic
specimens. Cenozoic wood was dealt
with only in a few descriptive papers,
namely, on the" Umoregi" (buried wood)
from the environs of Sendai (K. Y ASUI,
1917; M. TAKAMATSU, 1929), on the
"Matsu-iwa" (pinetree rock) in the Paleogene
coal seams of Kyushu (K. OHARA.
1926; Yuzuru OGURA, 1944), and on
Quercinium in the Paleogene of Kyushu
(OGURA, 1932).
Since 1930 Misabur5 SHIMAKURA engaged
himself in the study of fossil wood
from Japan and many parts of Eastern
Asia, and published his results in succession
(1933-1937). He also summarized
the distribution of conifers by geologic
ages (1939). Shunji WATARI, who succeeded
to the research work of Y. OGU­
RA, published the results of his detailed
morphological study of Cenozoic wood
(1941-1950) from various parts of the
country including Iwate Prefecture (Miocene
series), Shimane Prefecture (Miocene
series), and the environs of Yokohama
(Pleistocene series). He also published
a comprehensive report on the
middle Miocene wood flora, particularly
Paleopalynology, a branch of palynology,
is the study of fossil pollen and spore.
The subjects of paleopalynological study
cover the whole fossil plant kindgom,
* Geol. Survey Division, Nihon Hiry6 Co.,
Ltd., Muromachi 2-1, Chuo.ku, Tokyo.
Paleopalynology and its History
Shigemoto TOKUNAGA*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (100s), 1976
dicotyledons, from the districts along the
Sea of Japan (1962). His work was an
important contribution to the studies of
fossil wood.
After the war, studies of Cenozoic
wood have produced few conclusive results,
excepting W A TARI's work (1966) on
the Paleogene Taxodioxylon of Kyushu.
However, with the abundant occurrence
of Tertiary woods in Japan, lively research
activities are expected for the
future.
Studies of Cenozoic plants in Japan are
heading towards ecological researches by
means of analysis of vegetation and
paleoclimate, based on precise stratigraphy.
The intention of the researchers
is to elucidate the history of changes of
Cenozoic forests in the Japanese Islands,
and to reveal their connection with the
composition of living forests in Eastern
Asia. Efforts are being made also in
pursuit of phyletic evolution of fossil
species from the morphological standpoint.
The pollen analysis, which has
made a remarkable progress these years,
is offering very valuable information to
macrofossil studies. Joint studies by
pollen analysts and macrofossil researchers
would prove most effective in elucidating
the history of forest changes.
dealing with pollen and spore produced
by fossil plants. Paleopalynological methods
comprise pollen analysis, description
of specimens, stratigraphic correlation and
inference of paleovegetation and paleoenvironment
from the specimens studied.
In recent years a new area of study, to

70
correlation of coal seams. The fine correlation
of Paleozoic coal seams by means
of fossil spore and the success of palynological
investigations of lignite or brown
coal fields in western countries gave a
strong stimulus to Japanese palynologists,
and the palynological characteristics of
coal seams in the principal coal fields of
Japan were disclosed (Kiyoshi T AKAHA­
SHI, Y oshio OKAZAKI, Seiji SA TO, Shigemoto
TOKUNAGA, and others). And yet,
the material available for setting up representative
pollen indices for the respective
coal seams was insufficient. In the
meantime, there developed two trends of
research work, one was intended for correlation,
by means of morphological discrimination
and description of fossils, from
a purely practical standpoint, and the
other conformed to the nomenclature of
botanical classification. In either way,
regional pollen diagrams of Japan were
compiled, but the arrangement of all available
data is not complete yet for general
correlation on a more extensive scale.
It was in 1964 that the presence of fossil
spore in Mesozoic deposits of Japan
was reported for the first time. Pollen
assemblages in the Omine area where the
Triassic system is distributed and in the
Tetori area of the Jurassic terrain are too
poor to deserve description. Up to now,
occurrence of well-preserved Cretaceous
specimens is limited to the Hokkaido and
northern areas of the Tohoku district.
Lately, good assemblages have been found
in the lower Cretaceous system of Iwate
Prefecture (T. TAKAHASHI, 1974). The
oldest fossils are the ones reported from
the Permian system of Kyoto Prefecture,
but they are meager for stratigraphic use
(K. TAKAHASHI, 1969).
The scarcity of Mesozoic specimens in
Japan may be ascribed to tectonic movements
that could have affected the strata
and destroyed fossils, or perhaps the plants
MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
that produce pollen and spore were few.
Through the analysis of pollen and
spore assemblages the changes in regional
flora of early Tertiary and younger ages
are being clarified. In pollen analysis
the knowledge of the East Asian floral
region is especially important. In Asia,
differing from Europe where Tertiary
pollen assemblages that indicate significant
changes, a weighty clue would be
found in the changes of pollen of plants
that grew in temperate climate.
Stratigraphic horizon of the Liquidambar-Nyssa-Carya
pollen assemblage in the
Tertiary system of Japan tends to move
upward as the latitude of localities becomes
lower, which brings about a new
interpretation of correlation by means of
fossil plants.
In the Mesozoic pollen and spore, however,
many common genera are found
including Aquilapollenites which is characteristic
to northern regions such as Alaska
and Siberia. Therefore, the Mesozoic
specimens must be studied from a global
standpoint.
For higher precision of analysis, paleontologists'
interest in microstructure of
fossils is deepening, and the use of phase
microscope, electron microscope and scanning
electron microscope is becoming
popular.
In recent years, the degree and nature
of alteration of pollen, spore and other
parts of plant have come to attract attention
of researchers because these are
useful as the elements for measurement
of geothermal temperature. Thus, a new
area of study is being developed.
From the standpoint of oil prospecting
in Japan, dating by the color of fossil
pollen and spore is under investigation.
No conclusive result has been produced
as yet, on account of the fact that the
age of subject beds is limited to Tertiary
and Mesozoic. At any rate, very precise

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 71
analysis is required to attain the object.
Future development of paleopalynology
in Japan wili be many-sided, for it comprises
various areas of study, namely,
microstructure of specimens, their physical
and chemical properties, as well as
elucidation of paleoclimate and paleoen-
Algal Conservatism
vironment. In comparison with western
countries, the research work in japan is
concerned mainly with relatively younger
formations, and so the paleopalynology in
japan and Southeast Asia is expected to
make a unique development.
-Symbiosis between earth science and biology-
The history of the researches on fossil
calcareous algae in japan can be divided
into three periods.
The first period : The first report on
algal fossils was made by Kyugaku
NISHIW ADA (1897), who studied the reefy
Megami-Ogami Limestone of Shizuoka
Prefecture in his graduation work at the
Geological Institute, Imperial University
of Tokyo, and identified the species to
"Lithothamnium ramossissimum REuss"
known from Leithakalk of the Vienna
basin. In Europe at that. time, palaeobotanist
RoTHPLETZ (1891) discovered
the living fossil Archaeolithothamnium,
and divided Corallinaceae into the major
groups, Lithophyllum-and Lithothamnium-,
by the difference in conceptacles of
asexual reproductive organ. His paper
was an impact to botanist contemporaries
FoSLIE and HEYDRICH.
Several years later, algal nodules from
the Riukiu Limestone of Shuri and from
limestone lenses in the Yaeyama group
of Iriomote-jima, Okinawa Prefecture,
were sent to the specialists in Europe
* Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of
Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa.
Kenji KoNISHI*
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), 1976
through Bunjiro KoTo, and were identified
as Lithothamniscum ( =Lithophyllum)
nahaense (sp. nov.)' and "Lithothamnium
ramossissimum" by HEYDRICH (1900) and
NEWTON and HOLLAND (1902), respectively.
This was the period when many
important papers were written on the
taxonomy of living Corallinaceae, inclusive
of those by Kichisaburo YENDO (1902-
1905).
Hisakatsu Y ABE, who long since realized
the importance of calcareous algae
as limestone-forming organisms, studied
in Europe before he took his chair with
the newly founded Tohoku Imperial
University. While entrusting KARPINSKY
(1910) of St. Petersburg with the study
of Mizzia velebitana and Stol/eyella
( =Mizzia) yabei collected at Mino Akasaka
of Gifu Prefecture, Y ABE himself
(1912) was dealing with Solenoporaceae,
discussing their phylogeny and classification.
In this study, he described
Metasolenopora ( =Solenopora) rothpletzi
(sp. nov.) from the Torinosu limestone
at Sakawa, Kochi Prefecture, and Petrophyton
miyakoense (gen. et sp. nov.) from
the Miyako formation of Iwate Prefecture
which were the first new taxa of fossil

72 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
algae established by Japanese.
The second period : Y ABE's constant
interest in calcareous algae was manifested
in his comprehensive report (1922)
on localities and horizons of Tertiary
coralline algae in various parts of the
country. Before long, specialists in fossil
algae appeared among his students. The
first of them was Riuji ENDO (1924) who
made a biostratigraphic study of the
Carboniferous-Permian System of Hikoroichi,
Iwate Prefecture, as his graduation
work, and discovered Permian
Chlorophyta. Besides ubiquitous Permian
iV!izzia (HAY ASAKA, 1922; 0ZA W A, 1924),
the species recorded by ENDO included
three genera of Alpine Triassic Dasycladaceae,
differing from the results of PIA
(1912, 1920) who was undoubtedly the
world authority on the subject in those
days. For this reason, and also with
the cautious attitude of Y ABE (e.g. 1952),
ENDO confined himself to give just an
outline of his result.
In the wake of ENDO, Y ABE asked
Shiro TOYAMA to elaborate the algal
study of the Jurassic Torinosu Limestone.
As the results, several new genera and
species of Late Mesozoic calcareous algae
were described (Y ABE and ToYAMA, 1928),
and it was confirmed later that these
algae were cosmopolitan reef-associated
species. In 1932 TOYAMA met with an
accidental death, but his follow-up report
was published in 1949 as a joint work
with Y ABE, and the study of the Torinosu
calcareous algae was succeeded by his
fellow student Rikizo IMAIZUMI (1965).
Adopting the systematics of Mme
LEMOINE (1911-17, and later) based on
vegetative rather than reproductive
tissue, Wataru ISHIJIMA (1933-1954, and
later) began to specialize in the taxonomy
of Corallinaceae and vigorously described
and classified the important species of
Cenozoic coralline algae of japan and
Taiwan, along with re-examination of
the specimens recorded by Y ABE. He
(1943) also proposed a new Cretaceous
genus of possibly Chlorophycean affinity
from the Miyako Formation.
Characteristic of this period was that
a large number of japanese geologists
engaged themselves in the geological
survey of the Chinese continent. Occurrence
of stromatolites of algal origin
from the early Palaeozoic beds and the
Sinian (Chentan) System was reported by
Y ABE, Kin-emon OZAKI, Teiichi KOBA­
YASHI, Susumu MATSUSHITA, ENDO,
Rinji SAITO, Hiroshi OZAKI and Eitaro
TAKAHASHI. Possibility of their serving
as index fossils of the Precambrian
biostratigraphy was suggested by KOBA­
YASHI (1933). It was unfortunate that
stromatolites were erroneously assigned
to an inorganic origin when the algal
nature of "Manchuriophycus" ENDO (1933)
was rejected by the nominator himself
(1966). Stromatolites of the Chinese
continent have large potentiality to become
a treasury of Precambrian microfossils
of Asia. A few examples of
fossil stromatolites have been reported
from Japan (KONISHI, 1959 ; KONISHI and
OMURA, 1965).
The third period : With the termination
of the war, ENDO returned to
Japan and in 1949 he resumed the biostratigraphic
study of Palaeozoic calcareous
algae. His energetic activity continued
until 1969 when he died of illness. While
accomplishing his toilsome duties as the
Dean of Faculty of Science and Literture,
Saitama University, and later as
the University's President, he published
30-odd papers (1951-1969) on calcareous
algae, proposed more than 10 new genera,
and discussed phylogeny of Dasycladaceae
and other taxa. His descriptions included
species from the Philippines and Thailand.
Our knowledge of Carboniferous to

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 73
jurassic calcareous algae of Far East
owes a greg_t deal to his results. His
work has been succeeded by his students
Mankichi HORIGUCHI (1957, 1962, 1965)
and Manjiro NAKAMURA (1971).
ISHIJIMA also was rep:ltriated from
Taiwan, and compiled the results hitherto
obtained into a monograph which was
published in 1954. His three texts (1933,
1950, 1956) on Japanese fossil algae are
among the few guidebooks written in
japanese, inclusive of the atlas of fossil
plants by ENDO (1966). ISHIJIMA's steady
research work is revealing the characters
of fossil florules (mostly Corallinaceae)
from the Philippines, Pakistan and the
Galapagos Islands, as well as from japan
and Taiwan.
In 1953 the Japanese Society of Phycolqgy
was established under the lead of
Yukio YAMADA assisted by TOKIDA,
TAN AKA, SEGA W A, ARASAKI, IMAHORI,
HIROSE, and others, and this gave rise
to the insistence to base the studies of
fossil algae on the knowledge of living
algae in Japan (KONISHI, 1954, 1961). At
the 79th meeting of the Palaeontological
Society of Japan in the autumn of 1961,
a symposium on fossil algae was held
attended by phycologists of living algae.
One of the traits of this period was
that the studies of fossil calcareous
algae became active in North America,
largely owing to the efforts of ]. H.
jOHNSON, REZAK, and WRAY. jOHNSON
visited algal herberia of japanese universities
in connection with his monographic
work on the Pacific corallines
from 1947 to 1953, and published papers
on fossil algae from Ishigaki and Kitadaito,
Okinawa Prefecture (1961, 1964).
Also, there was a strong tide among the
American palaeontogists to be inclined
toward ecology and biogeography
(NEWELL, LADD, CLOUD). The studies
of calcareous algae accelerated this trend
(e. g., jOHNSON and KO:'-IISHI, 1956-59;
KONISHI and EPIS, 1960). At the same
time, the role of calcareous algae as
rock-forming organisms in depositing
carbonates was revalued (e.g., LOWEN­
STAM, GINSBURG), after the prominent
pioneering work by PIA (1926), and calcareous
alg3.e came to occupy an important
part of carbonate sedimentology.
Mineralogical and geochemical examinations
of hard tissue of calc1reous algae
and other calcifying organisms, along
their morphologies, are now essential
means for facies analysis of carbonate
deposits and for restoration of palaeoenvironment
and its diagenetic history.
In Japan, this type of research is being
conducted lately (KONISHI et al., 1968 and
later) and will be concentrated toward
the palaeoclimatic as well as eustatic
studies of the sea floor sediments.
Finally, study of Coccolithophorids, the
calcareous phytoplankton, has begun in
japan and is producing biostratigraphic
results from both subaerial and submarine
sections (Toshiaki TAKAYAMA, 1967 and
Shiro NISHIDA, 1969).
japan is blessed with abundant deposits
of algal origin, such as the shallow-water
carbonates, ranging from subtropical reef
complex to subarctic "maerl" pavement,
and the "high temperature type" stromatolite
that forms hot spring deposits.
These valuable deposits await future
sedimentological study, in which a
palaeontological approach is indispensable.
Palaeontology as well as her offspring,
palaeophycology will continue to develop,
by occasionally shifting the position of
its center of gravity but basically
maintaining once established symbiosis,
that is mutualism, between earth science
and biology. This prospect is strongly
suggested by the retrospect of the
japanese researches on fossil calcareous
algae.

74 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
In concluding the concise history of
palaeontology in japan, I should like to
give short remarks of my own view
instead of a well balanced summary of
the preceding chapters.
Scientific works on fossils from Japan
started about a century ago, when reconnaissance
geological survey was undertaken
in several areas of Japan. A
hundred years history of palaeontology
in japan may be divided into the following
four stages, depending much on the
activity by generations and also on world
development of palaeontology :
(1) Stage I : Period of pioneers' works
(1873-1911)
(2) Stage II : Period of works by a smaller
number of specialists (1912-50), with two
substages divided by the establishment of
the Palaeontological Society of japan
(1935)
(3) Stage III: Period of increasing number
of research works in various fields, with
more frequent international exchange of
knowledge (1951-1970 on)
(4) Stage IV: Toward renewed palaeobiological
works (1971 on)
These stages may overlap to some extent
in actual research works and the dates
indicated in parentheses are conventional,
although the boundary date marks the
commencement of something new (see
chronological table).
Stage I. Our hundred years history is
much shorter than the history of palaeontology
in certain countries in Europe.
They have a cultural background of
* Department of Geology, Faculty of Science,
Kyushu University, Fukuoka.
Concluding Remarks
Tatsuro MATSUMOTO
Trans. Proc. Palaeont. Soc. Japan, N. S., (lOOs), 1976
Renaissance, piles of natural history
collections and voluminous monographs
by generations.
Despite these handicaps, our predecessors,
especially the late Professors
Matajiro YOKOYAMA and Hisakatsu Y ABE,
father and mother of the palaeontology
in Japan, among others, endeavoured to
learn the up-to-date palaeontology from
Europe, especially from eminent palaeontologists
in Germany and Austria in
that period, and themselves accomplished
valuable research works on various kinds
of fossils obtained by geological reconnaissances.
In this stage, which corresponded to
the period of descriptive works of classical
monographs in the history of world
palaeontology, some other monographic
descriptions were given on fossils from
Japan by European authors, e.g. GEYLER,
NAUMANN, NEUMA YR, MOJSISOVICS,
NATHORST, FLORIN etc., as well as by
several other Japanese, e. g. Kotora
]IMBO+, Gordon YAMAKAWA+, Kono YAsm+,
Shigeyasu YOSHIW ARA + [ =TOKU­
NAGA] etc.
Stage II. The beginning of the second
stage may be marked by the establisment
of the palaeontological institute in Tohoku
University (Sendai) (1912) under the
leadership of Prof. Y ABE, where palaeontologists
were educated and then
specialized respectively in the study of
a particular taxonomic group or a
particular geological era, e. g. Ichiro
HAY ASAKA in Palaeozoic corals and
brachiopoda, ShOshiro HANZA w A in larger
+ deceased

A Concise History of Palaeontology in Japan 75
foraminifera, Takumi NAGAo+ in Terthry
and Cretaceous mollusca, Saburo SHIMIzu+
in Mesozoic ammonites, Seido ENno+
in Cenozoic plants, Ryilji ENno+ in
trilobites and c1lcareous algae, Shichihei
NOMURA in Cenozoic mollusca, Haruyoshi
FUJIMOT.) [ =HUZIMOTO] in fusulina,
Saburo OISHI+ in Mesozoic floras, Toshio
SUGIYAMA+ in rugo::;a, tabulata and
strom:1toporoids, Kin'emon OZAKI in early
Palaeozoic fo3sils, Motoki EGUCHI in
Mesozoic and Cenozoic corals, Syozo
NISIY AMA + in echinoids, Wataru ISH !JIM A
in calcareous algae, Misaburo SHIMA­
KURA in fossil wood:;, Kiyoshi ASANO in
smaller foraminifera, Kotora HATAI in
brachiopoda, Tokio SHIKAMA in vertebrates
and so on. Meanwhile eminent
students graduated from the University
of Tokyo were like-wise specialized in
various fields, e. g. S. TOKUNAGA+ in
mammals, Shingo YEHARA + in Me3ozoic
faunas, Jiro MAKIY AMA in Cenozoic
mollusca and other faunas, Enzo KoN'No
in Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic palaeobotany,
Yoshiaki OZAWA+ in Late Palaeozoic
fusulina and other faunas, Teiichi
KoBA Y ASH! in Lower Palaeozoic cephalopod3,
trilobites, etc., Yanosuke OTUKA +
in Cenozoic mollusca, Fuyuji TAKA! in
vertebrates and so on.
Geological departments weree3tablished
in 1921 in the University of Kyoto, in
1930 in Hokkaido Univ. (Sapporo), in 1939
in Kyushu Univ. (Fukuoka), in 1941 in
Tokyo Univ. Education, in 1943 in Hiroshima
Univ. and so on. More palaeontologists
of younger generations, thus,
started to work, but their numbers were
by no means enough. Although the
Palaeontological Society of Japan was
established in 1935, it was still a branch
of the Geological Society of japan for
the financial reason (i. e. too small number
of members).
To sum up, the second stage can be
defined as a period of works by a comparatively
smaller number or specialists.
Their activities were, however, remarkable
and the materials for the study
were not only confined to japan proper
but also expanded to the geologically
related neighbouring areas.
Stage I I I. The third stage started
when Japan was recovering from the
severe damage by World War II. In 1951
the Palaeontological Society of japan
issued No. 1 of the New Series of their
journal and also No. 1 of their Special
Papers. As President of the Society
Prof. Y ABE and then Prof. T. KOBA Y ASH!
took leadership in this rising period.
Owing to a new policy of educational
system, universities and other institutions
(including museums) have been renovated
and increased in .number. People have
got more freedom of doing what they
wish and palaeontology has become more
popular. Thus in the third stage not
only many of the specialists who were
active in the second stage continued to
work but also numerous students of
younger generations participated in palaeontological
studies. The fields of activity
have become more diverse and extensive,
including pollen dispersed by winds and
nannofossils from submarine areas.
Being aided by air transportation and
affected by the issue of such comprehensive
works as the Treatise, Osnovy, etc.,
and also increased number of journals,
the international exchange of knowledge
has become much easier and more frequent
than in the preceding stages.
Economic improvement and peaceful
state in japan have been favourable for
sound development of sciences. Under
these circumstances the palaeontological
achievement for these 25 years can be
said remarkable, publishing various kinds
of papers in great numbers. Thus, the
Palaeontological Society of japan issued

76 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
No. 100 of the new series of their quarterly
jounal at the end of 1975 and will
issue No. 20 of their Special Papers in
1976. There are several other special or
regional or temporary reaearch groups
which have given rise to or are going to
give rise to interesting results.
It should be noted that before the issue
of the Society's journal the restlts of
palaeontological researches in Japan had
been mainly published by the universities,
thoug:1 at irreguhr. intervals, aided by
governmental financial support. This
system was followed even after the
establishment of the Palaeontological
Society. Thus, the volume number of
the "journal", "Science Reports", or
"Memoirs" of several universities in jap::m
have exceeded 20 or even 40. The
National Science Museum and several
other museums have their own publications
in which palaeontology is included,
whereas the Geological Survey of japan
has no series of palaeontological papers,
except for some special volumes. "Geology
and Palaeontology of Southeast Asia"
(edited by T. KOBAYASHI and Ryii.z6
TORIYAMA or Wataru HASHIMOTO) has
been published since 1964 up to vol. 16
in 1975, again with grant in aid of the
Ministry of Education. There are some
palaeontological papers in other journals,
e. g. Proc. japan Academy, japan. jour.
Geol. & Geogr., jour. Geol. Soc. japan,
Mem. Geol. Soc. japan, Kaseki [=Fossils],
Chikyu-kagaku [=Earth Sci.], etc. The
Pal. Soc. japan published in 1961 a compiled
Catalogue of the Type Specimens in
Japan and in 1963, A Survey of Fossils
from japan illustrated in Classical Monographs
(reproducrion of the illustration
in classical monographs published before
1900, with revised explanatory notes). In
addition to several textbooks (written in
japanese) of palaeontology in advanced
courses there are three series of Atlas
of japanese Fossils (1970-1976) (Tsukijishokan)
with fine illustration and explanatory
text.
Despite these active publications important
papers have sometimes been
missed to be cited by authors of foreign
countries. A good bibliography has been
and will be published by the Pal. Soc.
japan (in SPecial Papers at the interval
of 10 or 15 years). Of course some
japanese authors have contributed their
papers to certain international journals
or books.
There have been, thus, considerably
voluminous palaeontological works in
Japan, but most of them have been concerned
with the systematic palaeontology
and biostratigraphy, with descriptions of
particular taxonomic groups or faunas or
floras of particular areas or ages. As the
palaeontology was delayed to start in
japan, it was natural and unavoidable to
stress the systematics and the stratigraphical
palaeontology for a considerable
period. In fact Japan and her
neighbouring areas, situated at palaeobiogeographically
important position, are
provided with diversity of faunas and
floras in various geological ages. Accordingly
some of the results have given
outstanding contributions to the world
problems in these fields of palaeontology,
as explained in the foregoing chapters.
This may be the primary reason why
the chapters of this concise history are
divided in accordance with major taxonomic
groups. However, this way of
writing would not be favourable for
modern palaeontology, in which research
projects tend to be focussed on certain
palaeobiological subjects of general interests
rather than on particular taxonomic
groups.
Stage IV. In Japan renewed palaeobiological
works have recently been increasing.
In this sense the fourth stage

A Concise History of Palreontology in Japan 77
can be said to have started already,
overlapping the third.
Yes, even in the systematic palaeontology
more biological foundation should
have been taken into consideration. In
fact in the years as old as the second
and third stages there were such works.
Hikoshichiro MATSUMOTO's (1923-24)
monographs of fossil mammals, and E.
KoNNo's palaeobotanical papers (1929-73),
Tamio KoT AKA's (1959) monograph on
the Cenozoic Turritellidae and Tetsuro
HANAI's (1970) paper on some ostracods
exhibit successful examples along this
line. Similarly MAKIY AMA's (1924) paper
on the evolution of Umbonium, KoBA­
YASHI's (1935, 36, 37, 47) and SHIMIZU's
(1934) works on the internal structures
of cephalopod shells and also Shoji IJIRI's
(1937, 39) attempt in the embryology and
the hystology of Desmostylus tooth were
outstanding at those dates for the stress
to more palaeobiological aspects.
To conclude this concise history let us
give short comments on recent activity
in japan with prospects for modern
palaeontology.
The population concept has proved
fundamentally important in modern
biology. For some reasons, however, this
was delayed to be introduced to the
palaeontology in japan. In fact it may
be considerably difficult to analyse satisfactorily
the populations on fossil materials,
but this should never be taken as a
reason to reject the population concept
from palaeontology. Biometric and
statistic analyses of samples of considerable
size which were carefully collected
from stratigraphically well ordered sequences
have recently been undertaken
by several authors of younger generations
for taxonomic and other purposes, giving
rise to interesting results. They are
mostly on molluscan fossils, but Tomowo
OzAwA (1975) has presented a successful
work on Permian fusulina in tracing the
evolutionary change of Lepidolina as well
as in proposing a revised classification
of the group.
Itaru HAY AMI (1973) studied the intrapopulational
variation of a Pliocene-Recent
species of scallop, Cryptopecten vesiculosus,
from japan, with a very interesting
result that samples of later ages
include two clearly discrete phenotypes
and that the remarkable change in the
frequency of phenotypes during geological
times can be interpreted as resulting
from the accumulation of a mutant gene
by natural selection. This way of approach,
if adequately combined with
genetical experiments, would bring forth
renewed contributions to the problem of
evolution. Keeping pace with this kind
of approach an attempt should be done
to bring the biostratigraphic zonation so
up-to-date as to meet with the requirements
of modern genetics. This has
been recently discussed by HAY AMI (1971)
and HAY AMI and 0ZA W A (1975).
On the basis of numerous specimens
from the successive horizons of the
Upper Cretaceous sequences, Kazushige
TANABE (1974, 75) attempted to make
clear the evolutionary change in functional
morphology on bivalve shells of
the group of Inoceramus (Sphenoceramus)
naumanni and ammonite shells of the
species of Scaphites and Otoscaphites,
with promising results. This may exemplify
another fresh aspect of palaeontology
in japan.
In addition to the population concept
recent improvements in techniques and
methods should be briefly mentioned here.
A textbook written in Japanese entitled
"Methods for the study of fossils"
[=Kaseki no Kenkyu Ho] was published
in 1971 (Kyoritsu Pub. Co., Tokyo) by a
number of collaboratory authors. Since
Susumu HONJO's (1964, 67) pioneer works

78 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
at Hokkaido University, quite a number
of palaeontological laboratories in Japan
have been equipped with scanning electron-microscopes
and several universities
have computer centres. Cultivation of
some animals is carried on at several
laboratories for palaeontological purposes
as equipments of chemical analyses are
used for the same purposes. On the occasion
of the annual meeting of our
Society in January 1975, a symposium
was held on the scanning electron-microscopic
study of fossils, including both
the technical aspects and the observed
results.
Being aided by technical improvement
the micro-and ultramicro-structures of
"hard parts" (shells, skeletons, bones,
teeth, vegetable organs, tissues, etc.) and
their ontogeny are being studied in more
detail, as exemplified by Iwao KOBAYASHI
(1964, 1971), KAIBARA (1968), and Yokichi
TAKA Y ANAGI et a!. (1968). This would
be concerned with comparative anatomy
in more precision and also be useful for
deeper understanding of the function of
a particular organ or morphological
character. Another development from
the study of the structural details is in
the problem of biomineralization, which
in turn is related with the problems of
fossilization and diagenesis on one hand
and those of biochemistry and accordingly
even those of pearl fishery, gnathology
and medicine on the other hand.
Organic matter is often pre( er Jed
within the microstructure. Biochemical
inspection of the organic matter (mainly
amino-acids) in some well preserved fossils
had been attempted already in 1958 by
IJIRI in Japan and further developed by
him and his followers. However, this
seems to have been rather involved in
the calcification and later alteration
problem, without giving so far fruitful
results in palaeophysiology. Evolutionary
change in proteins, especially that of
nucleic acids, may indeed be a fascinating
problem, if ever be made clear, but
there is much to be done in treating
adequately fossil materials for this
purpose.
Kenji KoNISHI (1971) and a research
group around him endeavour to know the
basic factors which control the isotopic
abundances in the organic tissues, especially
in the shelly part. I hope this approach
of isotope-palaeontology would
become one of the useful means in palaeobiological
studies.
Palaeoenvironmental analyses on fossil
biota or individual fossils have developed
gradually in Japan. Palaeoclimate, for
instance, has been discussed since YoKo­
YAMA's date based on the faunal or floral
analyses of various ages, but the interpretation
has recently become to be done
on more up-to-date grounds and in mo;e
international or global view point. The
biogenic calcium carbonates of certain
taxonomic groups are being examined
for their potentialities as quantitative
thermometer or salinometer, whereas the
up-to-date sedimentological analyses can
provide a useful information on the
palaeoenvironment, as remarked by
KONISHI and Hisayoshi IGO (1973).
Palaeobathymetry is much needed but
may be more difficult, if quantitatively
required. Attempts have been done by
several authors on some Cenozoic mollusca
and foraminifera. Katsura OYAMA
(1952, 1973 etc.) indicates with abbreviated
letters or symbols the vertical distribution
and bottom characters of
molluscan species on the ground of his
expert knowledge of natural history.
This is really useful but may be somewhat
special. Recent and fossil reef
complexes have been actively studied
from palaeoecological and other viewpoints
as in other countries.

A Concise Histo1·y of Palaeontology in Japan 79
In the proper field of palaeoecology
intensive studies have been carried on
to analyse fossil assemblages in certain
Neogene foraminiferal and molluscan
faunas on the basis of association of
species and also lithofacies of fossiliferous
deposits, as typically exemplified by
Hiroshi Unm (1962 et seq.), Tadamichi
0BA (1969), Junji ITOIGAWA (1961), Kiyotaka
CHINZEI and Yasuhide IWASAKI
(1967). Most of the fossil molluscan
assemblages can be regarded as representing
the benthic community, judging
from the recurrence of the same occurrence.
An interesting example of
"paralled community" has been shown by
their study. The investigators intend to
make clear the chronological change of
fossil communities which would, according
to them, contribute to the problem
of evolution. This may be right, but in
my opinion, the ecological conditions of
a species or better to say those of
Mendelian populations should be more
directly concerned with adaptation and
natural selection in leading trends of
evolution. The evolutionary change of
the ecosystem would be another important
problem in palaeontology and also in
historical geology. However, this could
never be answered by treating only the
material of local biota of a limited time
interval.
Tsugio SHUTO (1957) attempted to treat
the problem of speciation on palaeoecological
factors, but his example could
have been a result of biofacies differentiation
which was made clear by his own
precise faunal analysis (SHUTO, 1961).
The results of his study on larval ecology
of prosobranch gastropods (SHUTO,
1974) are significant for their biogeographical
distribution including the problem
of isolation and consequently modes of
speciation.
As to the recent advances in biostrati-
graphy and palaebiogeography notes
have already given in the foregoing
chapters and only additional remarks are
given here on a few points. In these
fields the international cooperation has
been especially emphasized. For instance,
the Silurian-Devonian boundary has long
been internationally discussed and recommendations
were submitted in 1972
by the Committee, with which Takashi
HAMADA is incorporated as a member
(see HAMADA, 1973). The international
Permian-Triassic conference was held at
Calgary, 1971, in which biostratigraphic
evidence and the problem of organic
crisis were contained. Keiji N AKAZA w A,
Kametoshi KANMERA and TORIY AMA
contributed papers to this conference
bringing well compiled data from Japan
or eastern Tethys (see LOGAN and HILLS
[ed.], 1973). The same problem has been
continued to be studied by NAKAZAWA
and his coworkers on the materials of
southern Asia where international cooperation
has been taken. Their results
will be published soon.
Another good compilation of biostratigraphic
correlation of all the known
fossiliferous formations has recently been
achieved for Southeast Asia (KOBAYASHI
and TORIY AMA [ed.], 1975). Although
the correlation is tentative for some
parts, the published results mark a milestone
for further advances.
An atlas of palaeobiogeography (HAL­
LAM [ed.], 1973) was published with fine
international compilation of contributors
in which MATSUMOTO took part in the
palaeobiogeography of late Cretaceous
Ammonoidea.
As one of the projects of IGCP an
internationally cooperative work is being
performed on the mid-Cretaceous zonation
and correlation, with which MATSUMOTO,
TAKA Y ANAGI, and others (1975) are
incorporated.

80 MATSUMOTO, T. et al., edit.:
An international conference on Pacific
Neogene stratigraphy will be held at
Tokyo, 1976, where the biostratigraphy
will occupy the main part. Combination
of biostratigraphic correlation with radiometric
dating and also with palaeomagnetic
allocation will be one of the
interesting points of discussion, as suggested
already by Nobuo IKEBE et a!.
(1973).
International cooperation has long been
taken and is increasingly important in
submarine investigations, in which various
kinds of microfossils are important for
correlation and palaeoenvironmental interpretation.
In some cases, however, megafossils
were occasionally found in the
boring cores.
Recently a renewed significance has
been afforded to the regional palaeobiogeography
in connexion with the theory
of sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics.
Although interests of these aspects are
rather in historical geology, the palaeobiogeography
itself should be essentially
related with the problem of speciation
and evolution.
The aim of biostratigraphy is also in
historical geology, but we need fundamental
palaeontological studies on the
organic evolution and related subjects for
further refinement of the biostratigraphic
zonation and correlation.
The above remarks comprise my
personal opinions, and this chapter could
be written in more or less different ways
by other authors. There may be some
other important aspects of the recent
palaeontology, particularly micropaleontology,
in Japan which I am afraid to have
omitted or missed to stress. Anyhow, I
believe that sound development of palaeontology
in the future several years would
depend on the well balanced advances in
both fields of palaeobiology and stratigraphical
palaeontology, which should be
intimately connected with the up-to-date
biology and also renewed aspects of
geology. In every field the international
cooperation and exchange of knowledge
would become more and more important
in the future. Fresh discoveries and
creations, as well as further improvements
on the foundation of previous
works, would promote the real advances.
Acknowledgements . . Although I myself
is responsible for the above remarks, I
owe much to a number of persons,
especially Dr. T. KOBAYASHI who wrote
in Japanese a short historical review ten
years ago and has also contributed an
introduction to this issue and Dr. K.
CHINZEI who helped me in giving upto-date
information on palaeoecology.