30 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



From Rio de Janeiro, again through the intermediation of Dr.. 

 Derby, I set out on October 12th for the planalto of Sao Paulo to 

 examine the tillite beds on the railway line between Itaicy and Piraci- 

 caba. Dr. Cardoso, chief of the Sao Paulo Geographical and Geologi- 

 cal Commission detailed Dr. Pacheco of that bureau to accompany me. 

 The excursion was made with a railway automobile, over the part of 

 the line traversing the sediments. This afforded every opportunity 

 for a rapid reconnaissance. On returning to Rio de Janeiro, I sailed 

 from that port on October 24th bound to Laguna for the purpose of 

 examining the Permian section of the Tuberao Valley. Dr. Euzebio 

 Oliveira joined me at Paranagua. On this and the return voyage the 

 necessary delays in waiting for the small coasting steamers gave 

 opportunity of making observations upon shore-line changes and the 

 general features of the Serra do Mar at Sao Francisco, Itajahy, 

 Florianopolis, and Laguna. 



While waiting for the steamer at Laguna a study was made of a 

 sambaqui or shell-mound forming a small terrace on the flank of the 

 granite hill at the south end of the town. The top of this deposit is 

 about 100 feet above sea-level and has been dug into as a local source 

 of lime. The deposit is composed principally of a small lamelli- 

 branch, in parts of the mass somewhat cemented together. In the 

 upper part of the heap I found a stone-axe, fragments of a fine-grained 

 rock evidently used for opening shells, fish-bones, mammalian bones, 

 and part of a human skull, as well as portions of a large sea-urchin, all 

 indicating by their leeched condition considerable antiquity. At a 

 lower level a large Ostrea was abundant. The deposit has a rough 

 stratified structure but nothing like that induced by deposition 

 beneath moving and assorting currents of water. Neither in the 

 topography nor in the structure were there characters seeming to 

 demand other than surface accumulation for the origin of this shell- 

 heap. The dead shells of a recent large snail, Bulimus, were rather 

 abundant on the surface of the kitchen-midden, and the old shells 

 were sliding down to the present beach. Professor Dixon has kindly 

 written a note on the collections I made at Laguno, (p. 132). 



J'ni/age from Rio de Janeiro to Taleahuana. November 25th, 1908. 

 The journey from Brazil through the straits of ]Magellan to southern 

 Chile was begun today by sea on the steamship Oravio of the Pacific 

 Navigation Company, with stops at Monte Video, Punta Arenas, 

 and Coronel. 



November 29th. — At Monte Video. Two partly dismasted barks 

 lay at anchor in the harbor, having fallen back to this port for repairs: 



