738 CHARLES SCHUCHERT 



yet clearly made out, but seemingly more probably down the St. 

 Lawrence- Connecticut depression than by way of the St. Lawrence- 

 Champlain troughs. 



The Erere fauna is a direct outgrowth of the Maecurii and proba- 

 bly follows it without a time break. It seems to hold the horizon 

 of the American Onondaga, hardly that of the Hamilton, and cer- 

 tainly there is nothing in it that indicates the Genesee fauna. The 

 connection existing between Brazil and the lower Mississippi embay- 

 ment during the Maecurii was destroyed during Erere time, as all 

 of the guide fossils of the Onondaga and Hamilton fail of representa- 

 tion in the Amazon formations. 



CURUA FORMATION OF DERBY 



Above the Erere formation occurs a series of "black [lower 300 

 feet] and red shales, passing at times into a shaly sandstone" (Derby 

 6:170). Their thickness is estimated to be about 600 feet. This 

 formation occurs on the rivers Maecuru, Curua, Trombetas, and 

 Tapajos, and near Erere. 



"In both the black and red shale, near the junction of the two," 

 Derby (16:171) found Spirophyton typum Hall and the sporangia 

 Protosalvania braziliensis and P. hilohata. The relation of these 

 beds to the Devonic and Carbonic is not yet estabhshed, according 

 to Katzer, and he refers them provisionally to the Carbonic, as 

 did Hartt. Derby and Clarke, however, place them in the higher 

 Devonic. Clarke also reports the presence of the Erere species 

 Nuculites ererensis. 



Katzer states that Spirophyton is found with Productus cora and 

 P. sublaevis in the Carbonic limestones of Dompierre. In the Flysch 

 of Europe this fucoid or "hieroglyph" ( = a burrow probably of a 

 polychaete worm) is widely distributed. As the occurrence of Spiro- 

 phyton has no satisfactory time value, Katzer refers these black and 

 red shales with concretions to the Carbonic. 



GENERAL DISCUSSION 



The older Devonic deposits of the Amazon region are also known 

 in the Brazilian states Matto Grosso and Parana; also in Bolivia, 

 Peru, Argentina, and apparently also in Paraguay and the Falkland 



