624 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW YORK MEETING 



HYPOTHESIS OF CONTINENTAL STRUCTURE 

 BY BAILEY WILLIS 



Discussion was offered by C. Schuchert, A. Heilprin, B. K. Emerson, 

 F. E. Wright, and the author. The paper appears as pages 389-412 of 

 this volume. 



The next paper was read hj title : 



THE LIMELESS OCEAN OF PRE-CAMBRIAN TIME 

 BY EEGINALU A. DALY 



This paper has been published in full in the American Journal of 

 Science, volume xxiii, 1907, pages 93-115. 

 The following paper was then read : 



PERM0-CARB0NIFER0U8 CLIMATIC CHANGES IN SOUTH AMERICA 



BY DAVID WHITE 



[Abstract] 



The fossil plants collected by the Coal Commission of Brazil not only con- 

 firm the existence of the Lower Gondwaua flora in Brazil, but they offer 

 striking evidence of climatic changes. At the same time they aft'ord new data 

 relating to Permo-Carboniferous southern land connections and the distribu- 

 tion of Permian glaciation. 



The stratigraphy of the Brazilian coal measures is admirably worked out 

 by Dr I. C. White, late chief of the commission, in his paper "Coal Measures 

 and higher beds of South Brazil," which he summarized at this meeting of the 

 Society. For the descriptive and systematic discussions of the fossil plants, 

 embracing 140 species, the reader is referred to the ofBcial Brazilian report.* 



The fossil plants in the series immediately above the basal conglomerates, 

 which repose unconformably on the ancient eruptives, comprise a typical 

 Lower Gondwaua flora, including its principal and characteristic species as 

 well as genera. This flora is so far identical with that associated with the 

 glacial boulder-bearing sediments in Australia and overlying the glaciated 

 conglomerates in India and South Africa as to leave no room for doubt as to 

 the contemporaneous existence of a similar cold climate in South America. 

 The consequent inference as to glaciation in that continent is lithologically 

 proven according to Doctor White, who confirms the observations and tenta- 

 tive views offered in 1889 by Derby. 



The beds l.SO meters above the base of the Tubarao series show numerous 

 megaspoi-es apparently of Sigillarian origin. The evidence of the return of 

 representatives of the northern or cosmopolitan flora is more abundant in the 

 region of 175 meters above the base, where we find SigiUaria brardii,* S. 



• Commissao dos Estudos das Minas de Carvao de Pedro do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, 

 1907. 



