HILL: GEOLOGY OF JAMAICA. 67 
&reat White Limestone Series, concluded that, “this being so, it is 
clear that the overlying White Limestone Series cannot be older than 
Carly Pliocene.” ! 
The truth is, the white limestones of the Jamaican sequence represent 
Several distinct formations and ages, from Vicksburg to recent inclu- 
Sive, but that the greater portion of it, as I shall show, is of old Oligo- 
“eno age. There are even some white limestones in the Cretaceous in 
Clarendon which are almost lithologically indistinguishable from those 
of the Tertiary. In recent years English geologists have observed the 
discrepancies of previous interpretations of the white limestone, and 
Suggested, from specimens of the material sent them, that at least an 
"pper and lower division might be distinguished? Our investigations 
Will show that not two but several subdivisions can be made, and that 
the rocks hitherto classified under this general head really belong to 
Several distinct formations of two great series, the Oceanic and the 
Coastal, the former constituting most of the rocks of this character and 
Occupying large areas of the interior upland, while the latter are con- 
fined to a narrow belt along the coast. 
The older white limestone formations, constituting the greater mass 
of these rocks, are found in the upland area of the island, and are all 
of Tertiary age. More exactly speaking, they are of the Vicksburg 
Stage, which is placed in the Eocene by some writers and in the Oligo- 
“ene by others. The later white limestone formations — including the 
ast Limestone of the Jamaican Reports, which we shall describe as 
the Falmouth Formation, and the Hospital Point Limestone of Montego 
“y — are of Pliocene, Pleistocene, and recent age. 
There has also been much vagueness concerning the origin of these 
rocks, accompanied by an opinion on the part of many that they are of 
“oral reef origin. They have been described? as “great coral structures, 
Tom the débris of which tho enormous calcareous development of the 
hito limestone has been derived,” and as the “ great coralline struc- 
ture which covers the greater part of the island.” 4 Opinions of this 
"ture have caused some writers to believe that all the whito limestones 
Were of coral reef origin, and led to the rather careless assertion that 
teef rocks of great thickness occur in the Antilles at heights exceeding 
000 feet, when in fact such rocks nowhere except in Barbados exceed 
00 feet in altitude or thickness. On the other hand, even the local 
“scriptions of the Jamaican Reports controvert the conclusion that 
! Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 1892, Vol. XLVIII, p. 290. 2 Ibid., p. 219. 
; Jamaican Reports, p. 24, 4 Ibid., p. 189. 
