BRANNER: THE STONE REEFS OF BRAZIL. 235 
barreta. At one of these the weed was piled up at the time of my visit 
to the depth of more than a metre, and lay heaped along the shore for 
more than a hundred metres. These piles of Algae are found only in 
this one place about the Parahyba reef and always on the south side of 
the obstacles. 
The coral fauna of the Parahyba reef is not so rich as that of the 
Maria Farinha, and of Rio Formoso reefs farther south. The living corals 
are scarce, possibly on account of their being used for lime-making, and 
the continual disturbance of the heads and prominences of calcareous for- 
mations by the lime-burners must affect the life of the reef perceptibly. 
Coral reefs between Parahyba and Recife. South of the Parahyba 
reef theresare no considerable coral reefs again until the Barra de 
Goyanna is reached. The reef-like breakers near the shore at Tambäba 
and just south of Jacumá are of Tertiary rocks — those at tho latter 
place are fossiliferous. South of Tambäba it is possible that there are 
some small low patchy coral reefs extending to a little south of Petimbú. 
These reefs are only uncovered, however, at the lowest tides, and could 
not be examined at the time of the writer’s visit. 
The reefs put down on the hydrographic chart as Les Tacis and said 
to be uncovered at quarter ebb, I was unable to find. North of the 
Barra de Goyanna is a sandstone reef uncovered at quarter ebb, but it 
is known here as the Pedra do Galé, and has neither the great length 
nor the position given the reef called Les Tacis on the chart. South 
of the Barra do Goyanna the sandstone reef is continued in a south- 
westerly direction. Outside of and overlapping its south end is a long, 
patchy line of coral reefs extending to the Barra do Gerimum. The 
reefs are interrupted at the Barra de Catuáma, but they begin again 
east of the northern end of the Island of Itamaracá and continue a little 
More than half the length of that island. The reef is nearly three kilo- 
metres out from the east shore of the island. The corals grow also on 
the inside of the Itamaracá reef nearly to the shore. At the lowest 
tides the coral banks are exposed at many places between the main 
Outer reef and the island. The rock is taken out and is used extensively 
both for building-stone and for lime-burning. In the heaps found on 
the shores, especially at the town of Itamaracä, the most common form 
is Porites. Some of the heads of this genus measure 47 centimetres in 
length. Millepores are also common. In the shallow water opposite 
the church the Porites is especially abundant. The Porites is known 
here, as it is at many other places along the coast, as “cabega de 
Carneiro” or sheep’s head. 
