1853.] RIBEIRO AND SHARPE BUSSACO. 143 



river towards the Quinta da Lomba at Braziela, about forty metres 

 above the river, the lowest system (Cambrian?) may be observed, 

 consisting of thin, regularly stratified beds of sandstone which splits 

 up into prisms, alternating vdth schists : above these are beds of 

 coarse conglomerates, containing prismatical fragments of 4 inches to 

 1 foot across, evidently derived from the beds below, angular frag- 

 ments of quartz, mica schist and chloritic schist mixed with rounded 

 pebbles, in a red or yellow argillaceous cement, with veins of carbo- 

 naceous clay ; above these are conglomerates and sandstone, beds of 

 coal, &c., the whole dipping east, and above these last are the Trilo- 

 bite schists dipping conformably to the east, in which Phacops longi- 

 caudatus has been found in addition to those named by Mr. Sharpe. 

 The existence in the conglomerates of fragments of the rocks below 

 them proves that there has been no inversion of the beds*. 



Extension of Subcretaceous Beds to the Eastward. — On some high 

 spots of the Serra de Bussaco are beds of argillaceous sandstone, 

 either white or spotted with red or yellow, alternating with soft fer- 

 ruginous clay : at the ridge of the Serra the clays are indurated and 

 the sandstones changed to quartzite. These beds rest on the Silurian 

 schists and quartzites, from which they are very distinct. Towards 

 Portela da Venda Nova they cover all the Silurian formation, except 

 a patch at Venda Nova de Poyares, and they extend to the south, the 

 east, the west, and north-west, covering the valleys of Louzaa, Poyares, 

 and Mortagua, and flanking the Serras of Louzaa, Arganil, Felgueira, 

 Caramulo, &c., but pierced through in many places by hills of clay- 

 slate (Cambrian ?) . A similar deposit forms extensive plains on the 

 eastern side of Beira, as at Sarzedos, Val de Pennamacor, and Idanha 

 Nova, and extending beyond the Elja and the Tagus into Spain. On 

 the north and west of the Serra de Bussaco these sandstones and clays 

 descend below the Portaria of the Convent and cover the red sand- 

 stones classed by Mr. Sharpe as subcretaceous. From whence it 

 appears that the subcretaceous sea covered the greater part of the 

 country between the Tagus and the Douro, both to the east and west 

 of the Serra de Estrella. On the Map, fig. 1, this formation is 

 only laid down near Portela da Venda Nova, but it is shown in the 

 sections, figs. 2 & 3. 



Appendix, containing Descriptions of the Organic Remains. — 

 Appendix A. — Report on the Fossil Plants of the Carbo- 

 niferous Formation. By Charles F. J. Bunbury, Esq., For. 

 Sec. G.S. 



1. Neuropteris cordata. 



2. Odontopteris Brardii, 



The same form as that which occurs in the Anthracite formation 

 of the Alps ; somewhat smaller than Bronguiart's figure, and with 



* A corrected list of the Trilobites brought from Vallongo has been drawn up 

 by Mr. Salter and is given in the Appendix. 



