98 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [jAN. 18, 



timber is the Bermuda, cedar, which grows luxuriantly, some 

 stumps of five feet diameter having been seen. The pride of 

 India, oleander, banana, plantain, orange, lemon, palmetto, cocoa 

 and date palms, india rubber tree thrive well ; apple and pear 

 grow, but rarely fruit, while the quince yields fruit, but is 

 dwarfed. Melons, potatoes, onions, lilies and the small vege- 

 tables yield abundantl}", but grasses do not succeed and pastur- 

 age is scanty. 



The peculiarly isolated position of the Bermudas has made 

 them especially interesting to naturalists, man}' of whom have 

 discussed the fauna and flora. Being the most northerl}- lo- 

 cality at which reef-making corals thrive, it has proved of equal 

 interest to geologists. Conflicting opinions respecting the 

 phenomena and their bearing upon theories respecting the 

 origin of coral reefs have led to repeated re-examinations, which 

 have not brought about complete agreement respecting even 

 the phenomena themselves. Puzzled b}^ this lack of agreement, 

 the writer was curious to see the region for himself. The ex- 

 amination was made easy by the careful work of several prede- 

 cessors now readily available for all. Revision is a small matter 

 in comparison with the original work. The examination was 

 purely geological and without any reference to the origin of 

 coral reefs, respecting which the writer knows nothing, his 

 observations having been limited to the Bermudas.* 



The Rocks. 



The rock deposits are the Red Clay, The Dune Sands, the 

 " Sandstone," the Limestone and an intermediate deposit be- 

 tween the last two, sometimes conglomerate and having interest- 

 ing relations to the " Beach Rock " of marine origin. 



The Red Clay. 



On the hillside, for the most part, the soil, or rather the un- 

 consolidated cover is but three or four inches thick and, being 

 mixed with disintegrated " sandstone," is grayish red. In the 

 " sinks " or depressions it is much thicker, sometimes fifteen or 

 twent}' feet, brownish red in the upper part and becoming 

 deeper red below. It consists largely of what is known as the 

 Red Clay, which at some localities appears to contain ingredients 

 injurious to vegetation. Patches were observed at several lo- 



*The publications to which the writer is most indebted are : Thomson, Sir Wyville 

 The Atlantic, N. Y., 1878, Vol. I., p. 239; Rice, W. N., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 25, 1884 

 pp. 5-32; Heilprln, A., The Bermudas, Philadelphia, 1893; Agassiz, Al., Bull. Mus; 

 Comp. Zoology, Vol. 26, pp. 209-281, 1895. Besides these the papers by Nelson in Trans 

 Lond. Geol. Soc; Rein in Bericht. u. d. Sencken. Natur. Gesell. fur 1870, p. 140, et seq. 

 Fewkes, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1888, are Important but the writer has not con- 

 sulted them directly. 



