226 BULLETIN 103, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Summary op the stratigraphic and geographic distribution or the Tertiary 

 and Pleistocene coral-faunas of Central America and the West Indies. 



1. The upper Eocene coral-fauna of the St. Bartholomew lime- 

 stone is known in St. Bartholomew, in Jamaica, and on the Pacific 

 side of Nicaragua. 



2. No lower Oligocene coral-fauna is at present known in the 

 West Indies or Central America. 



3. Rich middle Oligocene coral-faunas are known in Antigua, 

 Porto Rico, Cuba, Georgia (near Bainbridge), Alabama (Salt Moun- 

 tain), eastern Mexico, Panama, and the Island of Arube. The same 

 fauna is known to be present in Santo Domingo. 



4. Upper Oligocene coral-faunas are present in Anguilla, the 

 Canal Zone, Florida (Tampa formation), and there are some reef- 

 corals representing the same fauna in Cuba. There seems to be a 

 distinct break between this and the succeeding Miocene faunas. 



5. The Bowden, Jamaica, lower Miocene fauna is represented in 

 Santo Domingo, Cuba, and Costa Rica. This fauna is probably 

 younger than the coral-fauna of the Alum Bluff formation in Florida. 



6. A closely related but higher Miocene fauna is present in Santo 

 Domingo and Cuba. It seems probable that this fauna is geologi- 

 cally older than the coral fauna of the Maryland and Virginia Miocene. 



7. The presence at Usiacuri, Colombia, of a species of Septastrea, 

 very closely related to S. marylandica of the St. Marys and Yorktown 

 Miocene of Virginia, suggests the presence in northern South America 

 of a middle or an upper Miocene coral fauna. 



8. There is a moderately rich Pliocene fauna in the Caloosahatchee 

 marl of Florida, and this fauna appears to be represented at Limon, 

 Costa Rica. 



9. Pleistocene reefs are extensively developed in Central America r 

 the West Indies, and Florida. 



10. Living reefs exist in the same areas in which there are Pleis- 

 tocene reefs. 



11. The periods of reef-coral development are as follows: 



(a) Upper Eocene St. Bartholomew limestone, weak development. 

 (6) Middle Oligocene, the greatest known development of American 

 coral-reefs. 



(c) Upper Oligocene, considerable development of reefs. 



id) Miocene, weak development of reefs. 



(e) Pliocene, weak development of reef-corals in Florida. 



if) Pleistocene, extensive development of reefs. 



ig) Recent, extensive development of reefs. 



12. Periods of connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 

 are as follows: 



id) Upper Eocene. 



(h) Middle and upper Oligocene and lower Miocene, 

 (c) A connection, probably narrow, in very late Miocene or in 

 Pliocene time. 



