32 CONTRIBUTION TO THE PALEONTOLOGY OF TRINIDAD. 



Farallon beds are the same as they both contain Ranina porifera, the very striking 

 species of Crustacea; Serpula; and a number of Foraminifera in common. Yet 

 Mr. Veatch from stratigraphic relations was disposed to regard the Farallon bed 

 as possibly Eocene. To harmonize these conflicting indications we may at 

 present regard the bed as intermediate between Eocene and Oligocene ; its fauna 

 retaining Eocene foraminiferal forms, mingled with incoming Oligocene mol- 



luscan types. 



Dr. Bagg's inference that the sample of rock from the Godineau River may 

 be Miocene, calls up the most interesting problem of Antillean stratigraphy, 

 namely whether any true Miocene was ever deposited there. Up to the present 

 no strictly Miocene faunas have been found in the region, although they may 

 yet be discovered. 



THE PERNAMBUCO BEDS. 



Although many deposits of the coastal plateaus of eastern Brazil from Cape 

 Frio to the Amazon are referred to the Tertiary because of their stratigraphic 

 characters, they are all remarkable for a total absence of organic remains. The 

 only Tertiary beds containing marine fossils have been found in the State of 

 Pernambuco in a narrow coastal belt. The oldest locality is on the Rio Maria 

 Farinha, a small stream emptying into the sea near the town of Olinda. 



Dr. Derby was detailed during Professor Hartt's expedition to the Amazon 

 in 1870 to examine this locality. The fossils obtained were described by Dr. 

 Richard Rathbun 4 who referred them to the Cretaceous, without, however, 

 finding any distinctively Cretaceous forms. 



In 1875 Professor Hartt himself visited the Maria Farinha beds with Dr. J. C. 

 Branner and others, and obtained a quantity of material for the Geological 

 Commission of Brazil, of which he was then chief. 



This collection was neglected for some years because of the sad death 

 Professor Hartt in Rio. Later the fossils were described, together with many 

 Cretaceous species from other localities, by Dr. White in a monograph 5 published 

 in 1887. He also referred the Maria Farinha fauna to the Cretaceous. 



Subsequently the Pernambuco localities were again visited by Dr. Branner 

 who consulted Professor G. D. Harris as to the age of the fossils. The latter said 

 that the fauna was not older than Midway Eocene. 



Dr. Branner then adopted this view and remarked that the "general aspect of 

 the faunas of the Pernambuco (Maria Farinha, Olinda, and Ponto das Pedras) 

 and Para basins is decidedly Tertiary rather than Cretaceous." 



In 1896, Professor Harris 6 mentioned the close affinity between the Midway 

 of Alabama and that of "the so-called Cretaceous (really Eocene) of Maria 

 farinha He added: "No one at all familiar with our Midway fauna can fail 

 to see the close affinities or perhaps identity of Harpa (Pseudoliva) dechordata 



« Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist, pp. 241-256, 1875 



Arch, do Museu Nac. do Rio de Janeiro, vol. VII. 

 • Bull. Am. Pal., vol. I, p. 40, 1896. 



