346 



CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



the Leeward Islands and Cuba," by C. W. Cooke; "West Indian Ter- 

 tiary Decapod Crustaceans," by Mary J. Rathbun. During July 1919, 

 there was submitted to the President of the Institution the manu- 

 script of a monograph, " Mollusca of the Bowden marl of Jamaica," by 

 W. P. Woodring. 



Two paleontologic monographs have not yet been finished. One of 

 them, on West Indian fossil echinoids by R. T. Jackson, is far advanced 

 toward completion. The other, on West Indian fossil corals, by myself, 

 will require several months' work for its completion. In the paper 

 cited below^ I have given a summary of all available information on 

 West Indian fossil corals up to July 1917. 



The object of these investigations is to help in building a proper 

 foundation for the correlation of the geologic formations in the West 

 Indies and for dating the different events in the geologic history of that 

 region. The following are the ages of the successive Tertiary geologic 

 formations: upper Eocene, middle Oligocene, upper Oligocene (con- 

 sidered by some paleontologists as basal Miocene), lower Miocene, 

 middle and probably upper Miocene, and Pliocene. The status of the 

 reports on the different groups of organisms according to the different 

 geologic horizons is given in the following table : 



Status of West Indian paleontologic reports. 



a, reports completed; 6, report in preparation, preliminary summary of faunas published; 

 c, report in preparation, no preliminary summary; o, not represented in available West Indian 

 collections. Pliocene is not included in the table, as it seems to be known only on the south coast 

 of Cuba. 



After the reports above mentioned have been finished, descriptions of 

 local geologic details and a summary account of the geologic history 

 of the West Indies according to present information will be completed 

 as soon as possible. Much of the manuscript of the summary report 

 has been written. Dr. E. O. Hovey, of the American Museum of 

 Natural History of New York, has undertaken to prepare, in collabora- 

 tion with me, an account of the igneous phenomena of the West Indies. 



' Vaughan, T. W., Fossil corals from Central America, Cuba, and Porto Rico, with an account 

 of the American Tertiary, Pleistocene, and Recent coral reefs. U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 103, pp. 

 18^524, pis. 68-152. 1919. 



