30 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 



the ^Eolian formation and the true coral rock. This was on Andros 

 near the entrance to Fresh Creek, where a vertical face about ten feet 

 in height was exposed. The lower four feet were composed of frag- 

 ments of coral stems, mostly a madrepore, probably Madreporus cer- 

 vicomus, but so eroded as to make identification impossible. Above 

 this lay the .ZEolian rock, the contact being sharp and distinct, and the 

 contrast between the laminated appearance of the one and the irregu- 

 lar surface of the other being very striking. While no masses of corals 

 were to be seen, that were undoubtedly standing as they grew, the 

 fragments, some of them about a foot in length, were crowded to- 

 gether and presented the same appearance as I had seen in places in 

 the reef at Nicol's Town, where the branches of M. cervicornus had 

 been broken off and lay in a heap on the bottom. The striking con- 

 trast between the ^olian rock above and that in which the corals 

 were showed plainly that the two rocks were formed under different 

 circumstances, and that the lower stratum had been formed under 

 water, for it showed none of the characteristics of beach or wind-drifted 

 deposits. Although this is the only place where elevated corals were 

 found in profusion, in many other localities, as at Nicol's Town and 

 Mastic Point, Andros, a few fossil corals were found embedded in 

 the rock and evidently in place. The most common coral thus found 

 was a Maeandrina, probably the same as that now living on the 

 shore near low-water mark — a circular, flat species. 



In Nassau excellent sections of the rock can be seen in an old 

 quarry, the "Queen's Staircase," and in the present quarry. In the 

 first of these places the section is, I believe, ninety feet high, and the 

 rock is entirely ^olian. The most common fossil is a species of Stro- 

 phia that I suspect will prove different from those now living on the 

 island. 1 A few helicoid shells were collected, and parts of a crab were 

 noted, but only one or two marine shells, a Fissurella, and fragments 

 of a lamellibranch were obtained. These facts all indicate the .^Eolian 

 origin of the deposit. 



1 My thanks are due to Professor Dall, who has kindly examined my Strophias, 

 and who is inclined to provisionally refer some of the fossil forms to 5. maritima Pfr., 

 and states that others seem to connect maritima with forms like Glaus Kust., which I 

 found living on Andros. 



