SEDIMENTARY BELT OF THE COAST OF BRAZIL 224 
would eventually prove to be similar to that of the Pernambuco 
beds. 
The Para basin (9, 10) has furnished fifty-two species of mollusks 
(Lamellibranchs and Gasteropods), and as these were obtained from 
a few loose blocks picked up at a single point at the mouth of the 
Rio Pirabas, it is to be presumed that the fauna is a much richer 
one. Indeed, Kraatz-Koschlau (16) states that corals, echinoids, 
and reptiles also occur, but as yet nothing is known of their character. 
With one doubtful exception (Pteria linguijormis Evans & Shumard), 
all of these species are as yet unknown outside of this Brazilian coast 
belt, although six are cited by Ortman (Branner, 14) as closely 
resembling Tertiary species from Patagonia. Twelve (or fifteen 
including three doubtful forms) are identified as occurring also at 
Maria Farinha, and seven (including two found also in the Per- 
nambuco basin) in Sergipe.. The general aspect of the fauna is 
stated by good authorities to be decidedly Tertiary, but, so far as I 
can learn, no distinctively Tertiary genera or species have been cited 
from it, whereas the occurrence of several species that are found also 
in Sergipe affords a reasonable presumption that, with more exten- 
sive collections, characteristic Cretaceous forms are liable to turn up. 
As already remarked, a chance collection made from certain of the 
Sergipe localities might readily have been equally equivocal in general 
aspect, owing to the deficiency of representatives of characteristic 
Cretaceous genera. 
The evidence of a correlation between the Parad and the Pernam- 
buco faunas is somewhat stronger, in a positive sense, than that of 
the Parad and Sergipe ones, due to the presence of a greater number 
of species in common; and is decidedly stronger in the absence of 
characteristic Cretaceous forms. This last argument for a Tertiary 
age will, however, break down if Branner’s casual identification as 
Cretaceous of the Cephalopods seen at Pernambuco be accepted 
as final. 
One of the most interesting localities of the whole sedimentary 
belt is that of Marahti, about 60 miles south of the city of Bahia, 
since here the marine and fresh-water fossiliferous members of the 
series are found in close juxtaposition. This locality will be dis- 
cussed below, and only the marine fossils will be mentioned here. 
