20 THREE CRUISES OF THE " BLAKE." 



to light. It is possible that the massive types of the West 

 Indian miocene, such as the Asterosmilise and others which have 

 no analogues at the present time, may have been living in the 

 shoal water protected by reefs in the same way as the Fungise 

 of the Pacific, or some of the unattached compound corals, as 

 Manicina or Isophyllia of our coral reefs. 



According to Mr. Dall, a large proportion of the miocene and 

 even pliocene fossils of this country and of Sicily still exist in a 

 living condition near our shores. They are found principally in 

 the continental region. There are not, however, a sufficient 

 number of antique types to characterize the deep-sea molluscan 

 fauna as archaic, and none of them are as remarkable as the 

 Australian Trigonia, the Caribbean Pleurotomaria, or the Indian 

 Nautilus. 



