198 A. FE. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands; Geology. 
level of the beach deposits. They were, without doubt, mostly 
carried up to those positions by unusually high winds or great storm 
waves, such as often occur in modern times. But crows and other 
birds habitually gather such sheil-fish, sea-urchins, ete., on the shores 
and carry them inland for food, so that their shells may occasionally 
be found at any elevation. 
d. Fossils of uncertain nature; Casts of Plants, ete. 
In many localities irregular, cylindrical, tapered, and sometimes 
branched structures occur in the zolian limestones at various levels. 
Sometimes they are tubular with a cavity in the center, either empty 
or filled with loose sand. In many cases the walls are thick and not 
very firm ; in other cases, especially when small, the walls are hard 
and almost crystalline. These are generally supposed to be the 
moulds or casts of the roots, and sometimes of the stumps of trees 
and other plants. In some cases they resemble the stumps and roots 
of the common Bermuda cedar, but they seldom, if ever, show any 
organic structure. They appear to have been formed by the harden- 
ing of the sands around the roots by the rain water percolating 
through decayed roots or around living ones. (See p. 62, above.) 
According to J. M. Jones the process of forming these casts was 
still going on near Elbow Bay, when he wrote. His account was as 
follows: 
“On the western side of the sand hills, there is now a plateau of 
about half an acre, or perhaps more, of hardened drift sand, forming 
gradually into rock. On its face are cracks filling with drift sand : 
showing that the sun doubtless affects this hardened surface. Ele- 
vated stumps of a foot or so in height, rise amid this plateau; having 
each a hole or depression at the centre. These denote the sites in 
which cedar trees formerly grew. At the east end of the hills may 
be seen the gradual decay of cedar stumps; exhibiting more clearly 
the several stages of change; which are the more worthy of study, 
in consequence of the light they throw upon the many curious 
chimney-pot looking structures everywhere to be met with on the 
Bermuda shores.” ; 
Perhaps these root-like structures are more abundant on Cooper’s 
Island than elsewhere, but we observed them in many places. In 
some cases small tubular root-moulds were seen to come in contact 
with fossil snail shells and curve around them in clusters, just as 
living roots will do. 
