404 R. J, L. Guppy — West Indian Tertiary Fossils. 



IV. — On the West Indian Tertiary Fossils, 



By E. J. Lechmeee Guppy, F.L.S., F.G.S., etc. 



(PLATES XVI., XVII., AND XVlII.i) 



§ 1- Introductory Eemarks. 



IN the Gbologioal Magazine (VoL IV. p. 496) I have given some 

 notes on West Indian Geology, with des.criptions of a few new 

 species of fossils. The notes were intended, in part, as supple- 

 mentary to the papers published in the Journal of the Geological 

 Society, aiad in the Geological Magazine, on the Geology and 

 Paleontology of the West Indies, and in part to exhibit an im- 

 proved classification of the Caribean upper and middle Tertiaries, 



Mn Vendryes, an ardent naturalist and zealous collector of shells 

 and fossils in Jamaica, has kindly forwarded to me a fine set of the 

 Miocene fossils of that island. These have been in my possession 

 for some time ; but although several novelties are contained in the 

 collection, want of time and opportunity has hitherto prevented my 

 working them out. The high interest attaching to these fossils has, 

 however, induced me to draw up descrijptions of the new species, 

 and to indicate those which, although previously described from other 

 localities, are now for the first time added to the Jamaican list. 



I propose now to give a list of all the organic remains hitherto 

 found in the West Indies (as far as described) belonging to the sub- 

 kingdoms Mollusca, Articulata, Echinodermata, and Protozoa. I do 

 not enumerate the post-Pliocene fossils, as, for the most part, they 

 are of existing species only. 'J he Corals have been amply treated of 

 by Prof. Duncan, F.R.S., in late volumes of the Journal of the 

 Geological Society.^ The columns of the table appended hereto are 

 arranged in the order of the presumed antiquity of the deposits 

 occurring in the localities named at their heads. I should remark 

 that the observations of Mr. P. T. Cleve and others, as well as my 

 own, lead me to substitute the term "Eocene" for the term "Lower 

 Miocene," hitherto employed' for the Manzanilla and San Fernando 

 beds in Trinidad, and for certain deposits of similar age discovered 

 by Mr. Cleve in St. Parts. 



There are yet a considerable number of undescribed fossils known 

 from Haiti, of which there are examples in the Museum of the Geo- 

 logical Society. There is little doubt that very many of the blanks , 

 in the table now given will be filled up after further search. It is 

 l^robable that most of the Miocene mollusca will, sooner or later, be 

 found in nearly all the localities where formations of that age exist 

 in the Caribean area ; though various local circumstances, such as 

 depth and clearness of water, conditions favourable, or the reverse, 

 for preservation of organic remains, or those of particular kinds, 

 must be allowed to have due consideration. The fossil fauna of the 

 Eocene deposits which stands out as a group quite distinct from, 



^ These three plates will appear with the concluding portion of the paper next 

 month. — Edit. Geol. Mag. 



^ See Quart. Journ. Geol. See, vol. xix. p. 406 and p. 513 ; xx. p. 20 and p. 358 ; 

 xxi. p. 1 ; and xxiv. p. 9. 



