452 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 6, 



IV. Barbadoes. 



The Corals from this island were obtained partly from a well sunk 

 40 feet in the Coral-marl, and some were picked from the shore. 



Astrcea Barbadensis is a very distinct species ; it is found fossil also 

 in the Marl-formation of Antigua, and it is more closely allied to the 

 recent Astrcea annularis of the Pacific than to any recent West In- 

 dian species. The Oculina and Madrepora are too fragmentary to be 

 determined specifically ; they would appear to have come from a dense 

 Coral-breccia. 



Y. GlTADALOUPE, &C 



Paterocyathus is a new genus. 



Cyathina is represented by a species like the C. arcuata of Europe ; 

 there are no recent Cyathince in the West Indies. 



A species of Solenastrcea and a Mceandrina are also found in the 

 island ; and the genus TroehosmUia is said to be represented there, 

 associated with the Palaeozoic Favosites. 



Montserrat has the Astrcea Antillarum, closely allied to Astrcea 

 endothecata, amongst the beds which contain its silicified Woods ; and 

 from Barbuda there has been, as yet, only one fossil Coral obtained 

 — a Cyphastrcea, which was discovered in a mass of Shells and Corals 

 under the superficial soil. 



It is most unfortunate that the state of fossilization of the Tri- 

 nidad Upper Parian Corals should have rendered their determination 

 doubtful. Mr. Etheridge, using Dana's nomenclature, distinguishes 

 some fossil Astrseans with recent alliances ; a Turbinolia, an essen- 

 tially Eocene genus, and the Astrcea Pleiades, which most probably is 

 Astrcea megalaxona. 



E. Conclusion. 



It has been noticed that the Testacea sent from Antigua with the 

 Corals have been stated to belong to the present age. This is correct ; 

 but there are a few Shells and casts of Shells of an older date. 

 A Helix, common as a fossil, is not now, according to Dr. Nugent, an 

 inhabitant of the island ; and the extinct Melanice are found in great 

 abundance with silicified Woods. 



Both in Jamaica and in San Domingo there are late Tertiary Shells 

 and Corals, but it is impossible to bring these facts in antagonism 

 with those which give a more remote age to the strata whence the 

 specimens described were obtained. 



So with regard to Antigua, Barbuda, and Barbadoes, it is not correct 

 to give the whole Islands a Pliocene or Postpliocene age because 

 recent and subfossil Shells are found in them. 



As yet, the Testacea have not assisted in determining the geologic 

 age of the three coral-formations of Antigua ; but Mr. C. Moore has 

 given a Miocene age to the Mollusca from the San-Domingan shales, 

 whence the Corals here described were derived. The Alabama Eocene 

 Shells and Corals are distinct from those of the raised Coral-beds of 

 the West Indian Islands ; and it is worthy of remembrance that, 



