134 Branner — Fossil Remains of Mammals in Brazil. 



tion (Plate I) shows well the character of the river channel and 

 of the topography between Pao d'Assucar and Piranhas. 



The rocks of the region in the vicinity of Pao d'Assucar are 

 all crystalline and are probably of Archean age. The sharp 

 peak on the river near the town and from which it receives its 

 name has the appearance of being made of stratified rocks 

 standing on end. On the south side of the river is a series of 

 similar hills following the strike of the beds. The rocks, how- 

 ever, are not sedimentary beds but dark mica schists alter- 

 nating with reddish porphyritic gneiss. The beds (or the 

 schistosity) strike southeast — northwest. Two or three kilo- 

 meters up the river there are massive granites exposed on the 

 river banks. 



The road from Pao d'Assucar to Aguas Bellas passes through 

 the villages of Meirus or Campo Alegre (three leagues from 

 Pao d'Assucar) and Sant' Anna. The country from the Rio 

 Sao Francisco at Pao d'Assucar to Aguas Bellas, in the State 

 of Pernambuco, and thence to Pedra Pintada, ten leagues 

 northeast of Aguas Bellas, is all of crystalline rocks — mostly 

 granites, gneisses and schists, with a few occurrences of marble.* 



Over the surface of these rocks are here and there patches 

 of a thin layer of water-worn materials of various sizes and 

 mostly of quartz. The worn materials are not confined to the 

 stream channels or to the valleys, but spread alike over high as 

 well as low ground. 



Eight leagues east of Aguas Bellas, at a cattle ranch known 

 as the Lagoa da Lagea (Flat-Pock Lake), a quantity of large 

 fossil bones were found about the year 1873. The rocks of 

 the immediate neighborhood are all granites and gneisses. The 

 surface of the rocks have weathered unevenly, and in places 

 the soil is thin or altogether wanting. In one of the rock 

 basins thus formed, soil, loam and water-worn bowlders had 

 accumulated to a depth of more than a meter. An artificial 

 reservoir was made by excavating the soil, and it was in the 

 digging of this reservoir that a quantity of large fossil bones 

 were found. The pool at the time of my visit was about 30 

 meters long by about 20 wide, and a little more than one 

 meter deep. As nearly as I could estimate from information 

 furnished by the man who made the excavation and from the 

 fragments still lying about the place, more than a ton of bones 



* The occurrence of marble in this region of granites, gneisses and schists is 

 worthy of note. One of the exposures is at Ribeifo de Baixo, two or three 

 leagues south of Aguas Bellas and west of the road leading to Sant' Anna. The 

 marble is white, both fine and coarse-grained, and is used for making lime. 

 Another locality is between the Dois Riachos and Serra do Menino in the Calderao 

 do Chao, about five leagues from Aguas Bellas. Another i3 on the Fazenda dos 

 Meninos, about three leagues from Aguas Bellas at a place called Serrote de Cal 

 (limestone ridge). 



