;8 



THE 15LIILDING OF AN ISLAND. 



On the east side of Waiter's Point the rocks are very similar to those 

 common around Christiansted, externally brown and plainly stratified, but 

 without fossils, the strata dipping at about 45 degrees to the southwest ; but 

 when we pass to the western side of the point we find a set of strata of varied 

 character and standing at very high angles, some of them absolutely vertical. 

 A fossil sea-egg. for example, has been found here on the surface of a bed of 

 gritty rock now quite upright, which, when the sea-egg lived on its surface 

 and was embedded in the sand, was certainly level or nearly so. 



The strata here consist of limestones, indurated clays, etc., and at one 

 place there is a rather extensive intrusion of igneous rock from below. Some 

 of the limestones are compact, but others seem to be made up of broken frag- 

 ments cemented together, and at least one bed of gritty rock seems to contain 

 waterworn fragments of the same limestone. In the limestone layers, numerous 

 specimens of a very curious fossil are embedded. In outward appearance and 

 in the cross-section these so much resemble plant stems of some kind that the 

 present writer has hitherto regarded them as such, but, on submitting some of 

 them to scientific examination in New York recentlv, has been informed that 

 the apparent stem fragments are of animal origin, showing "coralline or some 

 similar animal structure." One of the best specimens collected is several 

 inches in length and about seven inches across. It has in one part a black 

 outer covering, suggesting the bark of a stem, while running up through it 

 and parallel to each other there are black columns that look like the bundles 

 of fibres that run through the stems of some plants. The arrangement is 

 shown in the accompanying sketch of a small fragment (Fig. 15). In the 

 above mentioned larger specimen, there are fifty-four of the radiating lines of 

 black spots, such as those shown in the diagram. Presumably the creature, 

 parts of whose form we find preserved in these fossils, was a gigantic animal- 

 flower (sea-anemone), from which the spreading arms of the top have disap- 

 peared. Possibly the lower or stem-like portion of the creature was strength- 

 ened by a considerable deposit of lime in part of the flesh ; for it seems difficult. 



Fi<;. I s- 



