384 VIEW OF THE FAUNA OF BR VZIL 



scattered about the heaps of bones, and enveloped them in 

 the same sedhnentary deposit with which it covered the sur- 

 face outside the caves. I have traversed this district over 

 an extent of more than 8000 square miles, and have every- 

 where discovered the indubitable traces of such a deluge. I 

 have shown that " Canga/' which exceeds the highest moun- 

 tain summits in Brazil (6000 ft.), is a contemporaneous for- 

 mation of the same diluvian deposit ; and I therefore think 

 I am entitled to consider it as definitively settled that this 

 portentous catastrophe extended over the whole of this con- 

 tinent, with the possible exception of the very loftiest moun- 

 tain tops. In the preceding communication I have shown 

 that the red clay soil, which is the most general sedimentary 

 soil of this district, is also that which most abundantly fills 

 up the caverns. I have there pointed out, that in consequence 

 of this particular position, the soil has received many extra- 

 neous additions, of which the most important are, the inter- 

 mixture of angular or rolled fragments of the limestone in 

 which the caves occur ; next, the percolation of calcareous 

 particles, which have formed crystals in its cavities, and 

 changed it to a mass hard as stone ; and lastly, the intro- 

 duction of a more or less considerable quantity of bones, for 

 the most part in fragments, and particularly white in the 

 fracture. 



No naturalist can have read the description of these phae- 

 nomena without thinking of the osseous breccia on the coasts 

 of the Mediterranean. I have seen many specimens of this 

 breccia in the museums of Europe 5 and I can assert that so 

 perfect is the external resemblance, that without the labels it 

 would be scarcely possible to distinguish the osseous con- 

 glomerate of Brazil from its well-known contemporary of 

 the Old World. The identity of the two formations, there- 

 fore, in my mind, cannot be disputed. 



It will appear evident from the description I have given in 

 the preceding conmiunication of the loose soil that consti- 

 tutes the last member in the geognostical formations of this 

 land, that this bed is identical with those which also in Eu- 

 rope form the most usual covering to the surface, and which 

 are distinguished by their greater or lesser abundance of 

 rolled stones. I have already remarked more than once, that 

 these beds of soil, with all their characteristic properties, 

 are found filling up the cavities and chasms in the rocks, and 

 that they have there undergone some alterations which, how- 

 ever, leave no room for doubt as to their origin. This iden- 

 tity between the osseous conglomerate of this country, and 

 the loose soil of the surface, is easily recognised, and serves 



