216 J. C. BRANNER OUTLINES OF THE GEOLOGY OF BRAZIL 



region of Rio Sao Francisco and in that of the Rio Tiete, in the province of 

 Sao Paulo." 



From this it is inferred that he means to correlate the clay shales and 

 limestones of the upper Sao Francisco with what we now know to be the 

 Permian beds of Sao Paulo. ^ 



Gerber leaves no doubt abont his views in regard to his "transition 

 formations/' for he says :^^ 



"The greater part of northwestern Minas, the basins of the Rio Sao Fran- 

 cisco and Rio das Velhas from Lagoa Santa belong to this (transition) di- 

 vision, whose principal representative is the traumatic shale. The beds of 

 this formation are almost entirely horizontal, and at divers places there are 

 interbedded with them limestones whose general masses are spherical [he 

 probably means lenticular], and exhibit horizontal stratification." 



Thongh Lnnd spent many years at Lagoa Santa, in Minas, near the 

 base of the Permian, the only expression of his that seems to relate to this 

 subject is where he speaks of a hill at whose south base were great quanti- 

 ties of limestone blocks. He adds : 



"I mention this case, by the way, only because it corresponds with many 

 others that I have seen, and because it shows that a great inundation that cov- 

 ered this part of Brazil with its last layer of earth, and that dislocated enor- 

 mous rock fragments, had a north-south direction in these regions." ^^ 



In regard to the rocks of the Serra do Maquine, which is on the left side 

 of Eio das Velhas, some thirty kilometers south of Curvelho, he says that 

 "at the base of the mountain one finds the same rock as on the surround- 

 ing plain — transition clay shales alternating with siliceous shales dipping 

 eastward ten degrees (page 63). The limestone in which Maquine cave 

 occurs "alternates with beds of clay or siliceous shales with gypsum crys- 

 tals. These (shale) beds are generally not so thick as the limestones." ^^ 



Owing to his exploration of the Eio das Yellias, the observations of Em. 

 Liais on the geology along that stream are worthy of especial attention. 

 He says :^* 



"Mais si maintenant, en descendant la vallee du San-Francisco, nous accom- 

 pagnons ces calcaires a partir de ceux qui se trouvent ainsi dans le haut de son 

 bassin entre I'Abaethe et le Rio das Yelhas, nous les verrons se presenter d'une 

 maniere identique quant a leur structure, leur aspect, leur grottes, leurs puis- 

 sance et leur distribution dans toute T extension du cours du fleuve, et ils y 

 forment comme une espece d'horizon geologique tres facile a suivre et a accom- 



31 Henrique, Gerber : Nogoes geographicas e administrativas da provincia de Minas 

 Geraes. Reimpressao da la ed. de 1863. Hannover, 1874. p. 19. 



32 p. W. Lund : Grutas calcareas, etc. Annaes da Escola de Minas, no. 4, p. 12. Rio 

 de .Janeiro, 1885. 



33 P. W. Lund : Annaes da Escola de Minas, no. 3, pp. 63-64. Rio de .Janeiro, 1884. 

 31 Emmanuel I/iais : Climats, geologie. fauna, etc., du Bresil. Paris, 1872, p. 179. 



