48 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Permian in India and Australia, a view which every subsequent 

 geologist who has attentively examined the evidence in the field has 

 concurred in. (I. C. White,' 1908). 



The identification by Mr. David White (in I. C. White, 190S, p. 

 281, etc.) of the Glossopteris flora in the shales of the coal measures of 

 Santa Catharina has completed the evidence as to the Permian age of 

 those beds. In the correlation made with the Permian of India and 

 elsewhere by Mr. White, there is a satisfactory agreement. In south 

 Brazil as elsewhere the tillite beds occupy a position inferior to the 

 main occurrences of the flora. 



Though mainly of non-marine origin, the Permian sandstones and 

 shales as well as the glacial beds were deposited at or near sea-level. 

 Further consideration of the geographical conditions of the period is 

 deferred to the sections dealing with the conditions of Permian 

 glaciation. 



The Triassic Terrane. — Surmounting the Permian strata of south 

 Brazil there comes a group of mainly red beds Muth great sheets of 

 trap forming its highest members. The basal beds of this series have 

 afforded the remains of the Triassic reptile Scaphonyx and of fossil 

 wood. The series is apparently in unconformable relation to the 

 underlying Permian. According to Dr. Derby the beds on their 

 northern limits overlap the Permian and rest upon the Pre-Devonian 

 terrane. The series in most respects recalls the Newark group of 

 Upper Triassic age in eastern North America. 



According to Dr. White's report (1908, p. 33) the Trias is comprised 

 of the following members : — 



Sao Bento series. Serra Geral eruptives . . . 600 M. 

 900 meters Sao Bento sandstones, red, gray, and 



cream colored beds . . . 200 

 Rio do Rasto red beds with Scaphonyx 

 and fossil wood , . . 100 



The reports are not always explicit as to the nature of the trap sheets. 

 Though apparently generally regarded as lava-flows Dr. White speaks 

 of examples in southern Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul in 

 terms indicating the existence of thick sills. In this region, he also 

 describes the underlying beds as intruded by great irregular dikes as 

 if they were feeders to some of the overlying trappean masses. In 

 general the Triassic area forms in south Brazil an elevated plateau 

 attaining elevations of 4,000 feet faced where it overlooks the Permian 

 tract by an escarpment crowned with sheets of basalt. The eastern 



