8 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



The studies of the ishmd made by tlie official surveyors were compre- 

 hensive and began at least as early as 1859. The official report'^ is the 

 present standard of reference. 



The observations and material of the Jamaican survey have also been 

 the bases of several independent papers on the geology of the island, by 

 8. P. Woodward, Moore, Wall, Duncan, and others, which have appeared 

 in the English serials, and which will be frequently cited later on. 



Many individuals who have not personally observed the geology of 

 the island have made paleontologic studies of material collected by the 

 survey and others, and announced important conclusions. Among these 

 may be mentioned Moore, S. P. Woodward, Duncan, Gabb, W. J. L. 

 Guppy, Dall, Etheridge, T. Rupert Jones, and Jukes-Browne. So far as 

 minute study and interpretations are concerned, the petrography and 

 pliysical geography of the island have received little or no attention. 



The writings of the authors mentioned have been valuable aids in the 

 preparation of this book. In perusing this literature the reader is con- 

 stantly impressed with the fact that these researches failed to solve 

 the essential problems of the succession and age of the strata ; this fact 

 impaired the value of all subsequent deductions, and fundamental mis- 

 takes were made which have had wide bearing on the interpretation of 

 Antillean history. The literature of no other region, especially that 

 relating to paleontology, presents so many erroneous conclusions. To 

 avoid constant corrections of these mistakes, it is best to point them out 

 at the be<i:innino:. It is but fair to state that this unfortunate strati- 

 graphic confusion was not the result of incompetence, but was due to 

 an act of Providence. Mr. Lucas Barrett, the Scientific Director of the 

 Official Survey, who alone knew the combined results of its several 

 workers, and was able to correlate them, was drowned in a diving bell 

 while carrying on his studies.'^ Conflicting endeavors to make post- 

 humous interpretations of his opinions were the sources of the subse- 

 quent erroneous conclusions. 



The official report is a i)eculiar and unfinished composite, Barrett's 

 death having occurred before its publication. The introduction of two 



^ Entitled " Reports on tlie Geolopjy of Jamaica, or Part II. of the West Indian 

 Survey," by James G. Sawkins, with contributions by G. P. Wall. Lucas Barrett, 

 Arthur Leimox. an<l C. 1). Brown, and an Appendix by Bobert Etlieridge, Paleon- 

 tologist of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, printed for Her Majesty's Sta- 

 tiotiery GfTice, 1800, .'>o9 papes, with Maps and Plates. This work and its parts will 

 be fri'cpu'ntiy referred to in this paper as the Jamaican Bepnrts. 



2 December, 1862. See Obituary Notice in the Geologist, Vol. IV. pp. 60-62, 

 1863. 



