WORK OF PORTUGUESE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 443 



belongs to the "Culm" facies so widely developed in 

 Central Europe. 



The Upper Carboniferous is very restricted in extent, 

 and its distribution bears no relation whatever to that of 

 the Lower Carboniferous. From the character of the de- 

 posits, and the mode of their occurrence, there can be little 

 doubt that the Upper Carboniferous of Portugal was laid 

 down in comparatively small basins not unlike those of 

 the Central Plateau of France. It invariably rests uncon- 

 formably upon very much older beds, and consists very 

 largely of coarse conglomerates. 



The most extensive area is met with in the North of 

 Portugal, where the coal measures form a band stretching 

 from the sea-coast at Espozendo (North of Oporto) in a 

 S.S.E. direction across the Douro as far as Pijao in the 

 province of Beira (22). The coal of this band near 

 Vallongo was taken by Sharpe to be of Silurian age 



(41). 



Farther north there is another band some 22 km. 

 long and 700 m. wide in the neighbourhood of Bussaco (38, 

 26) ; and lastly, South of the Tagus there is a very small 

 patch at Moinho d'Ordem near Alcacer do Sal (28). 



The fossil plants from these three basins have been 

 described by several writers, and according to Gomes (22) 

 they indicate that the deposits of all three are of the same 

 age, viz., that of our Coal Measures. But Wenceslau de 

 Lima has recently revised the flora of Bussaco, and from 

 various considerations, and especially from the presence of 

 Walchia and Callipteris, he has been led to conclude that 

 the coal bearing deposits of Bussaco belong to the Roth- 

 liegende, or to the passage beds between Carboniferous 

 and Permian (26). He believes, however, that the coal of 

 the other basins is of somewhat earlier date. It is remark- 

 able that in the Bussaco beds a crustacean has been found 

 which W. de Lima refers to the genus Eurypterus 



(27) - 



Trias. — The Palaeozoic rocks of Portugal are uncom- 

 formably overlain by a series of red and white sandstones 

 and conglomerates, to which Choffat has given the name of 



