82 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



to such remnants of coastal plains as are found in the Antillean 

 region. The recent terraces, which are not deformed, are small, 

 and perhaps do not rise to more than 70 feet above the sea. 

 Youthful canons are being formed near the mouths of the streams, 

 showing the recent re-elevation of the land. 



3. " On the Geological and Physical Developwent of Barbados, 

 with Notes on Trinidad." By Professor J. W. W. Spencer, Ph.D., 

 M.A., F.G.S. 



Barbados, over 100 miles east of the main chain of islands, is 

 a remnant of the dismembered and sunken Antillean plateau, with 

 the embayment in it, west of the islands, reaching to a depth of over 

 7,000 feet. But the drowned Barbados ridge extends far, both to 

 the south and to the north of the island, and is connected by 

 another ridge with the Martinique mass. Its hydrographic features 

 are best understood when studying the question of the general 

 relationship of the islands. 



Trinidad is part of the South American continent, being on the 

 subcoastal shelf which extends much farther seaward. 



The Scotland Sands and the deep Oceanic Series of Barbados 

 have been comprehensively studied by others. The Oceanic Series 

 is here shown to be no newer than the Eocene Period, and the 

 Scotland Series is supposed to date back to the beginning of the 

 Tertiary or even to an older epoch. The ' Eaised Coral-Eeefs ' are 

 differentiated into three formations, all of white limestone or marl. 

 The oldest beds are all tilted to considerable angles. They contain 

 an Oligocene fauna. Their surfaces are eroded into rounded forms, 

 showing that the topographic feature was completed at a low 

 elevation above the base-level of erosion. As no other Tertiary 

 formation occurs until the close of the Pliocene, it is inferred that 

 the region was a land-surface throughout the long Miocene-Pliocene 

 Period. This limestone is the equivalent of the Antigua formation. 

 In the hollows of its surface occur the remains of a mechanical 

 limestone (the Eagged Point Series), which has been mostly 

 carried away by subsequent denudation. It lies in a horizontal 

 position. Newer still is the Bath Series, or raised coral-reefs, 

 with a fauna still living. However, it is an old Pleistocene forma- 

 tion, and its surface is very much denuded. Some of the newer 

 fossiliferous beds may represent even another distinct Pleistocene 

 epoch. The greatest elevation and denudation appear to have been 

 in the early Pleistocene days. The terraces occur in Barbados at 

 much higher elevations than in the other islands, as this district does 

 not appear to have undergone so great an amount of recent sub- 

 sidence as that which carried down the surfaces, with little caiions 

 and channels, below sea-level, adjacent to the other islands. The 

 local features of Barbados extend our knowledge of the history of 

 the whole chain of islands, besides agreeing with the phenomena 

 found elsewhere. 



Trinidad has more continental features than the other islands. 

 Its surface topography has been found to owe its origin to the 



