Tlie Barrettia Beds of Jamaica. 503 



hitherto is recorded only from Jamaica, is found near Samac and 

 Campur, and that in the north-west of the Department of 

 Huehuetenango Rudists, mostly SphcBrulites, were found. 



There can be no doubt that further research will extend the range 

 of this and numerous other Rudists in Central America and the 

 Greater Antilles. 



Several specimens were collected in Jamaica in 1895 and 1896 

 by Mr. F. C. Nicholas, of New York. Most of these came from 

 Orange Cove, Hanover Parish, in the far west, but two of them are 

 recorded from Logic Green, in Clarendon Parish, near the centre 

 of the island. 



The specimens were sent to New York and described by R. P. 

 "Whitfield ^ imder the names of Barrettia nionilifera, B. multilirata, 

 and B. sparcilirata, the last two being new species. No description 

 of the locality nor indication of the horizon of the beds occurs in 

 Whitfield's paper, and none of the specimens was well enough 

 preserved to allow of the upper valve being seen. Moreover, 

 Whitfield throws grave doubts on the molluscan nature of these 

 fossils, and feels much more inclined to consider them as pertaining 

 to the Coelenterates rather than to any form of the mollusca. He 

 cites several features in his specimens which he regards as entirely 

 incompatible with the growth of a molluscan body, but allied to 

 that of the cup corals. 



R. T. Hill, in his work on the geology of Jamaica,- does not 

 mention having seen Barrettia during his sojourn in the island 

 at any of the three localities from which it is re})orted. The locality 

 at Haughton Hall, near Green Island, where it occurs is coloured on 

 his map apparently as '" Cambridge " formation, which he regards 

 as Eocene, though containing Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils. The 

 exact spot on his map is difficult to locate, but it is apparently very 

 near his junction of Richmond, Cambridge, and Cobre, Moneague, 

 and j\Iontpelier formations. 



H. Douville ^ has submitted the original specimens collected by 

 Barrett to a critical re-examination, and has no doubt that the genus 

 is a Rudist mollusc, an ojiinion which I fully share. 



Barrettia is an important fossil for the following reasons : — 



(a) It is one of the few representatives of the great group of the 

 Hipjmritids on the American side of the Atlantic Ocean. The genus 

 Hippurites does occur there, however, and Professor Douville 

 kindly showed me a small form of it from Mexico, preserved in the 

 museum of the School of Mines in Paris. 



^ " Observations on the Genus Barrettia of Woodward, with descriptions of 

 two new species " : Bulletin American Museum of Nat. History, New York, 

 vol. ix, 1897, pp. 233-46, pis. xxvii-xxxviii. 



^ " The Geology and Physical Geography of Jamaica " : Bull. Mus. Comj). 

 Zoology, Harvard, vol. xxxiv, 1899. 



■* " Etudes sur les Rudistes " : Mem. Soc. Geol. de France, tome iv, fasc. ii, 

 1894, p. 110, pi. xvii. 



