550 Messrs. Harrison 8f Jukes- Br oivne — Geology of Barbados. 



practically every specimen of limestone which seemed at all likely to 

 contain fragments of organisms, not a single one has yielded anything 

 of which I could be sure. Yet I have found these in very disturbed 

 districts of the Alps, not only in the noted schistose Jurassics of the 

 Lepontine group (containing belemnites, crinoids, etcJ), but also 

 in Triassic limestones near Bergtln, "With one exception (and 

 this may be due to contact metamorphism, such as must occur 

 in the Ice Eiver Valley), these specimens apparently ai"e not older 

 than Palaeozoic times, and in some cases might even be Mesozoic, 

 Hence, as the limestones are numerous, the absence of organisms is 

 so singular that I can only suppose they have disappeared in 

 consequence of micromineralogical changes, as, I believe, has 

 happened with a Triassic limestone near the Pas de Chevres, 

 Arolla, of which I was more than once reminded by some of these 

 specimens. 



III. — The Geology of Barbados. 

 By Prof. J. B. Haurison, C.M.G., F.G.S., and A. J. Jukes-Bromt^e, B.A., F.G.S. 



THE August number of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological 

 Society contains a paper on this subject by Dr. J. W. Spencer, 

 who believes that the rocks which were described by us under the 

 head of ' Eaised Coral Eeefs ' "^ do not form one continuous succession 

 of Pleistocene reef-rocks, but consist of several different limestone 

 formations. He thinks that there are three such formations, and 

 that each is separated from the other by a break or unconformity. 



It is, of course, quite possible that the more recent reefs may 

 partially conceal a formation which escaped our notice, and that 

 Dr. Spencer might have obtained evidence of its existence ; but 

 before he can establish the existence of an Oligocene limestone in 

 or below some part of our Coral Eeef Series, and as a consequence 

 alter the accepted age of every rock-group in the island, he must 

 produce very strong evidence for his innovation. 



We fail to find any such evidence in his paper; thus, the only 

 evidence for the Oligocene age of any of our ' reef-rocks ' is the 

 occurrence of two corals, unnamed species of Stylophora and 

 AstroGcenia, which are said by Dr. T. W. Vaughan to be the same 

 species as occur in a limestone of Oligocene age in Antigua. These 

 were only found at one place, a spot near the Cathedral at Bridgetown, 

 and this is absolutely all the paleeontological evidence which 

 Dr. Spencer has to offer in support of his conclusion that there are 

 Oligocene limestones in Barbados comparable with those of Antigua. 



Beds exposed in a railway cutting not far from Eagged Point, 

 on the eastern side of the island, are referred to this Oligocene 

 formation solely because they show an apparent dip of 15° to 20"^ 

 and pass below a later horizontal calcareous deposit. No fossils are 

 recorded either from the newer or the older rock, but it is stated 

 that the latter includes a bed which contains masses of corals. 



1 Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc, 1890, vol. xM, p. 213. 



2 Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc, 1891, vol. xlvii, p. 209. 



