378 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 612. 



also the same horizon at which Dr. Derby 

 finds 8tereo sternum tumidum in the state of 

 Sao Paulo, and its geological horizon is ap- 

 proximately 300 meters below the red teds 

 that hold reptilian remains (Scaphonyx 

 fischeri) which Dr. A. Smith Woodward of 

 the British Museum regards as closely related 

 to Euslcelesaurus of the Stormberg, or Triassic 

 beds of South Africa. In fact, it appears that 

 we have in Brazil a series of rocks which 

 correlate closely with the Karroo system of 

 South Africa, and that glacial conditions also 

 existed in Brazil immediately preceding the 

 deposition of the Coal Measures there, during 

 the epoch of the Orleans Conglomerate which 

 corresponds to the ' Dwyka,' and ' Talchir ' 

 conglomerates of Africa and India. The fol- 

 lowing scheme of classification, which I have 

 adopted for the beds near Minas, Santa Cath- 

 arina, will give a general idea of the strati- 

 graphic succession in that state. 



Serra Geral eruptives. 



BotucatH sandstones, 

 great cliffs of red, 

 gray and cream-colored 

 sandstones. 



Rio do Rasto red beds, 

 with fossil reptiles 

 [Scaphonyx) and fos- 

 sil trees. 



Santa 



Cathaeina 



System : 



Sao 

 Bento 



Series : 



Passa 



Dois 



Series : 



Rocinha limestone. 



Estrada Nova gray and 

 variegated shales with 

 cherty concretions, and 

 sandy beds. 



Iraty black shale, Meso- 

 saurus and 8tereoster- 

 num. 



Palermo shales. 



Rio Bonito shales and 

 sandstones, with Coal 

 Measures and Olossop- 

 teris ( Gangamopteris ) 

 flora. 



Orleans conglomerate. 



Yellow sandstones and 

 shales to granite floor. 



The Tubarao and Passa Dois series would 

 correlate with the Ecca series, or Lower 



Tubarao 

 Series : 



Karroo, of South Africa, while the Sao Bento 

 beds would represent the Stormberg, or Upper 

 Karroo series. The fossils of the Beaufort 

 or Middle Karroo series have not yet been 

 discovered in South Brazil. 



Mr. David White, of the United States 

 Geological Survey, to whom was entrusted the 

 study and description of the fossil plants col- 

 lected from the rocks of the Santa Catharina 

 system by the Brazilian Coal Commission, 

 finds the typical Glossopteris flora in the col- 

 lections from the Tubarao. and Passa Dois 

 series, and assigns both to the Permian. This 

 conclusion is shared by the writer except that 

 he thinks it possible the Coal Measures or 

 Rio Bonito beds of the series given above may 

 be of Permo-Carboniferous or Artinskian age, 

 while all above them to the base of the Sao 

 Bento series would be true Permian, and this 

 would of course include the Mesosaurus zone. 

 The very interesting and elaborate memoir of 

 Mr. David White, illustrated with ten plates 

 of fossil plants, will be published, along with 

 Dr. J. H. McGregor's valuable memoir on 

 Mesosaurus hrasiliensis, in my final report to 

 the Brazilian government on its coal resources. 

 The name ' Gangamopteris flora ' is preferred 

 to that of ' Glossopteris flora ' by Mr. David 

 White for reasons that he fully explains in 

 connection with his description of this in- 

 teresting flora. 



The following quotation from Mr. David 

 White's manuscript, giving the list of species, 

 will prove of much interest : 



That the flora of the Brazilian coal measures 

 is composed of mingled older Gondwana and 

 Northern Permian species has long been known. 

 The presence of Gondwana elements in Brazil was 

 recognized by Hettner; and Zeiller has contrib- 

 uted a very valuable discussion of the inter- 

 mingling of Northern and Southern types, and 

 of the consequent deductions as to the boundaries 

 of the two great floral provinces in Permo-Car- 

 boniferous time. In the following pages it will 

 be shown that we have in southern Brazil a 

 typical Lower Gondwana flora, embracing the 

 principal types characteristic of that flora in 

 India, Australia and South Africa, to which is 

 added a smaller part, chiefly composed of 

 Lepidophytes, derived more or less directly from 

 the Northern Permo-Carboniferous flora. Also 



