BRANNER: THE STONE REEFS OF BRAZIL. 149 
North of Rio Camaragibe (S. lat. 9° 19) in the State of Alagóas, at 
a place known as Marceneiro, the following section is exposed on the 
beach. 
Fra. 82. Section at Marceneiro. 
This calcareous rock rises about 2.3 to 2.6 metres above low water, 
while the total height of the bank amounts to 3.2 metres above low 
tide. 
Elevated beaches, State of Bahia. — In 1879 Richard Rathbun, for- 
merly member of the Commissäo Geologica do Brazil, now of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, published an article on the stone reefs, in which he 
gives a brief description of an elevated beach at Porto Santo, on the 
island of Itaparíca, bay of Bahia." This description is so important that 
it is given at some length: “At Porto Santo, there is a curious 
example of consolidated beach structure, the only instance of the ele- 
vation of such material of which we are aware. At this place we find 
a cliff back of the beach, having a length of about 1,100 feet, and a 
greatest height of about thirteen feet, and composed almost entirely of 
sand and gravel, cemented by lime into a sandstone. The lower part 
of the cliff is very hard in texture, and contains numerous fragments of 
corals and shells, the latter being frequently found entire, Many of 
the species of both exist in abundance throughout the bay. The upper 
part of the cliff is of almost pure sand, and has been so incompletely 
hardened as to crumble readily between the fingers. The amount of 
calcareous material in the lower portion is very great, and it is said to 
yield a good quality of lime on burning. 
“Whether this cliff belongs to the same class of structures as the reefs 
or not, it is, at least, composed of the same materials, and must have 
been formed in about the same way. Its present elevated position — 
1 American Naturalist, June, 1879, XIII. 347-8358. A somewhat longer article 
on this same deposit was published by Mr. Rathbun, entitled A praia consolidada e 
sublivada e ов sambaquis de Porto Santo. Archivos do Museu Nacional do Rio de 
Janeiro, 1878, III, p. 172-4. 
