— 191 — 
Mr. Joao Carvalho, a very reliable gentleman of Tubardo, reports 
the finding of small diamond in the gravel at the junction of rio Passa 
Dois, and Rio Bonito. 
It is possible that this Jraty black shale with its petroliferous 
deposits has been the source of the carbon from which the eruptive 
dikes of diabase have produced these diamonds on rio Passa Dois, 
as well as at many other points in Brazil. 
The Estrada Nova Beds 
Between the top of the Zraty black shale just described, and the 
base of the great red group of shales and sandstones, there occurs a 
series of gray and variegated shales and sandy beds which often hold 
large nuggets of silex, fossil crustacean and shell remains, and sili- 
cified fragments of fossil wood. They are fairly well exposed along the 
cuts of the Estrada Nova, (Estrada do Rio do Rasto) in Santa Catharina 
between the 13th and 18th kilometers west from Minas, and have been 
designated from this occurrence. The thikness given namely, 150 
meters, is only approximate, since the dip of the measures is quite 
variable in the type region owing to the presence of dikes of diabase, 
which cut across the ‘strata at all angles and disturb the rate of 
inclination. The figures given, however cannot be very much in error. 
Some thin beds of red colored sltrala occur in these measures, as 
also some limy and silicious layers which hold fossil wood, as well as 
numerous fragments of what appear to be the limbs of crustaceans 
according to Messrs, Girty and Stanton of the U. S. Geological 
Survey. 
The boring at Bofete in Sao Paulo begins only about 15 meters 
below the top of these beds, and the Iraty black shales were struck 
at 145 meters thus giving the beds a thickness of 160 meters in that 
region. 
It was from this locality, a few meters above the location of 
the boring at Bofete that the specimen of Lycopodiopsis Derbyt, as 
identified by Dr. David White, was found, while from the same hori- 
zons in Rio Grandedo Sul, near S. Sapé and S. Rafael, specimens of 
Sigilaria muralis and Dadoxylon nummularium were collected. 
