700 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 540. 



Above the coal-bearing member succeeds a 

 series of sparingly reddish clays, and gray 

 sandy shales and sandstones which are fol- 

 lowed by light blue shales up to a horizon of 

 dark limy shales which in the states of Parana 

 and Sao Paulo contain numerous reptilian 

 remains, Stereosternum tumidum of Cope 

 having been found at this horizon, as well as 

 many fossil stems of trees, etc. 



Dr. White found at this horizon in Parana 

 what Osborn pronounces a new form, specific- 

 ally and possibly generically different from 

 Cope's. It resembles Mesosaurus tenuidens 

 of Gervais from the Karoo beds of South 

 Africa. 



Above the black shales, red teds of alter- 

 nating shale and sandstone become conspicu- 

 ous, while capping the same is a great massive 

 conglomerate sandstone often baked and vitri- 

 fied by the immense outflows of diabase, and 

 basaltic eruptives which penetrate the series 

 at all angles, and which piled in enormous 

 masses on top of the sedimentaries make up 

 the Serra Geral. The entire sedimentary 

 series has a thickness of 2,250-2,500 feet. 



Two prolific horizons for fossil plants were 

 discovered by Dr. White, one only 200 feet 

 above the base of the series, and the other 150 

 feet higher. In these was discovered the 

 genus Glossopteris and other forms, some of 

 which are new to science, and which have been 

 entrusted for study and description to Mr. 

 David White. The evidence from the fossil 

 plants and animal remains appears to place 

 these rocks in the Permian, and to correlate 

 the formation with the Karoo beds of South 

 Africa, and the Gondwana series of India. 



The Dwyka and Talchir conglomerates of 

 those countries appear to have a correspond- 

 ing representative in the coarse conglomerates 

 which rest upon the granite in Santa Cath- 

 arina and Rio Grande do Sul, fifty to sixty 

 miles inland, from the Atlantic coast. 



Dr. White will return to Brazil during the 

 present summer to finish up his studies of this 

 coal series for the Brazilian government. 



Flora of the Brazilian Coal Measures: Mr. 

 David White. 



The paleobotanical material collected by Dr. 

 I. C. White was discussed with special refer- 



ence to its relation to the Glossopteris prov- 

 ince. The greater part of the material is 

 from two horizons and localities. The first, 

 near Minas, Santa Catharina province, in a 

 bed below the productive coals and only about 

 200 feet above the old crystallines, reveals 

 Glossopteris indica, Gangamopteris ohovata, 

 G. cyclopteroides, Phyllotheca cf. australis 

 and Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi, besides several 

 new generic and specific types. The second 

 important collection, from the roof of the 

 Irapua coal, in the province of Rio Grande 

 do Sul, at a horizon determined by Dr. White 

 as about 150 feet higher, it being among the 

 productive coals, contains Glossopteris indica, 

 Noeggerathiopsis Hislopi, Ottoharia sp. and 

 Cardiocarpon sp. The occurrence of Lepido- 

 dendron Pedroanum, Lepidophloios laricinus 

 and the lepidophytic spores, previously re- 

 ported from Brazil and especially interesting 

 as showing the contact of the Glossopteris, 

 or Paleoantarctican, flora with the northern 

 Carboniferous flora, becomes all the more in- 

 teresting and important in view of their local 

 stratigraphic position which was found by Dr. 

 White to be still a little higher than that of 

 the plants last named. The inclusion of 

 southern Brazil in the Indo-Australo-South 

 African or ' Glossopteris ' province is, there- 

 fore, fully confirmed by the evidence thus 

 brought to hand. The Glossopteris, found 

 abundant though fragmentary at Irapua, rep- 

 resents the form described by Seward from 

 South Africa, where it is similarly associated 

 with representatives of the northern lepido- 

 phytes. The new material tends to corrobo- 

 rate the conclusion reached by M. Zeiller, that 

 the Brazilian coals are probably of Permian 

 or possibly latest Coal Measures age, their 

 place being apparently in the Karharbari- 

 Newcastle stage. 



Mr. W. T. Schaller described the 'Tour- 

 maline Mines of California.' 



Geo. Otis Smith, 



Secretary, 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 158th regular meeting of the society 

 was held Thursday evening, April 13, in the 



