258 The Philippine Journal ef Science 1922 
of the Philippines (eastern Mindanao, Samar, and eastern Luzon) 
are much closer with Celebes, the Moluccas, and New Guinea than 
with any part of the Sunda group (Sumatra, Java, Borneo). 
It may be, then, that in pre-Tertiary times, Samar was connected 
with other land masses, although it likewise is probable that a 
separate island then existed and a connection came later. But, 
whenever the separation occurred, it seems definite that upon the 
basement complex were laid various sediments, in- a manner 
similar to the sedimentation of to-day. 
The Miocene formations consist of the earliest unaltered sedi- 
mentary rocks. Asa rule, the sandstone beds contain few fossils, 
but the limestones are rich in Lepidocyclina. Under the micro- 
scope, one recognizes this small marine animal by its attenuated 
ends and bulging center; by the “medial plane composed of 
chamberlets arranged in regular annuli around a distinct central 
chamber or chambers. The genus has lozenge-shaped or spatu- 
late-formed chamberlets.” (Chapman.) Cushman “ thinks that 
in America this genus ranges no higher than the Oligocene; 
but in the Philippines the presence of Lepidocyclina has been 
found to indicate Miocene strata, with probably no range into 
the younger formations.** That the genus has a short vertical 
range is not doubted, and it is thought that the small forms 
found in Samar rocks indicate middle and upper Miocene de- 
posits. While the Miocene limestones are rich in this index fossil, 
coral remains are astonishingly meager. 
While limestone was being formed, the old basement com- 
plex of the island was suffering erosion. Feldspathic sands 
and clay were being carried into the seas, mixed with calcareous 
and lignitic material, and consolidated, and finally the beds were 
uplifted and folded, perhaps with the aid of volcanic intrusions. 
Following the Miocene was a long interval of quiet water de- 
position and an equally marked period of erosion of the Miocene 
beds. The limestone of the Ep-Pliocene contains abundant 
mollusks and corals. Although the genus Lepidocyclina had by 
that time become extinct, other Foraminifera still abounded in 
* According to E. D. Merrill, in a personal communication. Z 
* Cushman, J. A., American species of Orthophragmina and Lepidocy- 
clina, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Surv. 125-D (1920). : 
* See Douvillé, Henri, Les Foraminiféres dans le Tertiaire des Philip- 
pines, Philip. Journ. Sci. § A 6 (1911) 53; Smith, Warren D., Contributions 
to the stratigraphy and fossil invertebrate fauna, Philip. Journ. Sci. § A 
8 (1913) 235; Yabe, H., Notes on a Lepidocyclina-limestone from Cebu, 
Science Reports Tohoku Imperial University, II (Geology) 5” (1919). 
