2206 ORVILLE A. DERBY 
ment that he saw in the possession of a gentleman at Pernambuco 
specimens of Cephalopods that he calls Cretaceous, from the lime- 
stone of the island of Itamarica, close by Maria Farinha, and that 
he himself collected on the same island one of the most characteristic 
of the Maria Farinha fossil shells.t As no good reason has yet 
been presented (from my personal knowledge of the district I doubt 
that any can be presented, for presuming that there are two widely 
distinct fossiliferous formations in this vicinity, it is reasonabie to 
assume that the lack of strongly characteristic Cretaceous types in 
the collection submitted to Dr. White for study was due to the chances 
of collecting, and that, if the island of Itamarica had been thoroughly 
explored, the general aspect of the Pernambuco fauna would have 
come out with much greater similarity to that of Sergipe. The 
other Pernambuco localities, Olinda and Ponta de Pedras, have 
been shown by Branner to be clearly correlated with that of Maria 
Farinha, and therefore need not be discussed here. 
The Parahyba locality, being set down by Branner as unquestion- 
ably Cretaceous, need only be noted as another example of the 
collector’s chance—in this case a particularly happy one, as only 
three recognizable fossils were obtained. It seems reasonably prob- 
able that this and the Pernambuco localities will eventually prove 
to be remnants of a single original basin. 
The Mossoré or Apody basin, in the state of Rio Grande do 
Norte, is very imperfectly known. My recollection of the impres- 
sion given several years ago by the casual inspection of fragments 
of limestone with imperfectly preserved fossils is that the fauna 
White as characteristic Cretaceous forms, five others that have not as yet been found 
in other localities, either in Brazil or elsewhere, and belonging to genera which might be 
either Cretaceous or Tertiary. 
t Another fossil from the same locality is referred to a species occurring in the 
fresh-water beds of Bahia—a rather singular combination, which is repeated at Ponta 
de Pedras, where this and still another characteristic fresh-water form are reported in 
association with a well-characterized marine fauna. 
With reference to the discovery of Cephalopods (Ammonites ?) in the limestone of 
Itamarica, it may be remarked that this and Branner’s discovery of fossils at Parahyba 
seem to confirm an instinctive feeling that I have long had, that whereever fossiliferous 
limestones are found in this sedimentary belt their fauna will be found to present a 
more characteristic Cretaceous aspect than that of the arenaceous and argillaceous 
beds. From several chance remarks it seems that Branner had the same impression. 
