hill: geology of Jamaica. 119 



Parker, cand Dall, it is necessary to give a brief synopsis of tLeiu to 

 straighten ont the complications. 



Soon after the discovery of Orbitoidesand NummuHna) in the Jamaican 

 rocks by the official surveyors, and prior to Jones's studies, Gappy noted 

 the discovery of similar forms in the asphalt rocks of the cliffs at San 

 Fernando, Trinidad.^ In these papers he also stated that " the same 

 species of Foraminifera had been detected in the Miocene rocks of 

 Jamaica.'' He said,^ *' I have not detected any other organisms in the 

 same bed as the Orbitoides and Nummulites ; but both above and below 

 it are found Tertiary fossils, probably not of more recent date than the 

 Miocene age." Sufficient " to state that the evidence derived from them 

 is not inconsistent with the presumption of the Miocene origin of the 

 deposits in question. We know too little as yet of the Tertiaries of 

 this part of the world to be able to pronounce a more decided opinion ; 

 but should the supposition of the Middle Tertiary age of the San 

 Fernando Tertiaries be ultimately established, we should have here the 

 remarkable phenomena of the association of an Old World with a New 

 World form of Lower Tertiary rhizopod in a deposit of Middle Tertiary 

 ageP Furthermore he says : * *' Upon a close examination of the ver- 

 tical mass [of asphaltum rock^] is found to consist chiefly of the remains 

 of Nummulites and Orbitoides, two genera of Foraminifera whose shells, 

 as is well known to geologists and paleontologists, form in various parts 

 of the world thick masses of rock ; the Orbitoides being generally 

 characteristic of the Eocene period in the AVestern Hemisphere, while 

 the Nummulites is regarded as indicative of the Middle Eocene in 

 Europe and Asia. Here, however, we find the remains of both these 

 genera in strata of supposed Miocene age.'' ® Thus, with probable cor- 

 rectness, he correlated the Jamaican Orbitoidal beds with those of 

 Trinidad, but erroneously referred both to the Miocene age (old 

 classifications). 



In 1863 Jones and Parker described a group of Foraminifera collected 

 by Barrett from the Pteropod marls of Eastern Jamaica of supposed 

 Pliocene and Pleistocene age, and differing entirely both in stratigraphic 



^ See Proceedings of the Scientific Association of Trinidad, December, 1872, Port 

 of Spain, 1873. In this paper Mr. Guppy notes tliat lie announced the discovery of 

 these forms in Trinidad at a previous meeting of tlie society in July, 18G3. 



^ See also Proc. Sci. Association of Trinidad, 1867, p. 15. 



« The Geologist, London, 1864, Vol. L p. 160. 



* Loc. cit., p. 159. 



6 Figured on page 38 of Trinidad Reports, 1860. 



8 A Report on the Geology of Trinidad, pp. 33 and 102. 



