160 



the level of the sea, without the assistance of volcanoes, earth- 

 quakes, or any other violent catastrophe. 3. That this height has 

 in Bermuda been attained by a mere accumulation of sand and 

 shells, continually blown up and advancing from the coast into the 

 interior. 4. That drift sand is capable of arranging itself in strata. 

 5. That of the strata so formed some may be consolidated, others 

 unconsolidated, and that the two may alternate. 6. That strata of 

 drifted sand do not present horizontal surfaces. 7. That wind is 

 capable of giving to strata the figure of a dome or saddle, or a waved 

 and contorted appearance, or an arrangement round centres, or a 

 high degree of inclination. 8. That in coral islands bays are ori- 

 ginal indentations, not the effects of subsequent abrasion. 9, That 

 the surface of a country may be diversified by hill and dale, though 

 it has never undergone diluvial action. 10. That under favourable 

 circumstances denudation may be occasioned by wind as well as by 

 water. 11. That the ripple-mark, which Mr. Scrope* ascribes to 

 a vibratory movement of the lower stratum of water, agitated by 

 winds or currents, may also be owing to wind. 12. That crevices 

 or fissures may be the results of contraction or unequal expansion, 

 and are not necessarily accompanied by violence. 13. That the 

 reticulation of such crevices does not disprove their being contem- 

 poraneous, l^. That caves may be produced in strata by the un- 

 dermining action of the sea. 15. That limestone may be conso- 

 lidated without the application of either heat or pressure. 



The Bermuda Islands furnish a striking example of the intermix- 

 ture of land and sea shells with the bones of birds and tortoises, 

 and likewise with vegetable remains. Some of the specimens which 

 accompany the paper have a structure distinctly oolitic, and in some 

 I observe the delicate red tint which is met with in the chalk beds 

 of Yorkshire, or the oolite of Dijon. The cause of this, and still 

 more, the origin of the sand, the detritus of rubies which occurs in 

 one part of the shore, are curious subjects of inquiry. It is also 

 remarkable that breccias should be found at Bermuda, similar to 

 those of Nice, the island of Cerigo, and Gibraltar. 



A paper on the arrangement of Fossil Fishes, read at the first 

 meeting after the recess, and ably commented upon by its author, 

 M. Agassiz, received from you more than usual marks of approba- 

 tion. M. Agassiz informed us, that as yet he had not found any 

 species identical with those of our present seas, with the exception 

 of one small fish which has been discovered in Greenland imbedded 

 in geodes of clay, the geological age of which is undetermined. In 

 the newer tertiary formations, viz. the Crag and superior Apennine 

 beds, the species for the most part exhibit a relation to the genera 

 which dwell within the tropics, but in the older tertiary, viz. the 

 London clay, the marine limestone of Paris and the rock of Monte 

 Bolca, at least a third of the shells belong to genera that are ex- 

 tinct. In the Chalk more than two thirds belong to extinct genera, 

 and if the grouping of strata were regulated only by ichthyological 



* Proceedings of the Geological Society, No. xxi. 1831. 



