1866.] 



GIJPPY— WEST -INDIAN TEETIARIES. 



571 



fossils are rare ; but three species of corals have been enumerated by 

 Dr. Duncan, none of which are new. 



No strata of ascertained Eocene date have been shown to exist 

 elsewhere in the Caribean area ; but it is probable that some of the 

 deposits attributed to the Miocene period in Trinidad pass down into 

 it, as will be mentioned in the next section. 



§ 3. Lower Miocene Formations. 



I shall use the terms Lower and Upper Miocene, upon this as upon 

 former occasions, not as implying equivalency to the Upper and 

 Lower Miocene of Europe, but merely as marking what seems to 

 me, at present, the relative age of the formations under consideration. 



a. Trinidad. — In this island there is a very extensive develop- 

 ment of Tertiary formations ; and it is exceedingly difficult to refer 

 all the beds to their proper places in the series, owing to the want of 

 sections shomng their relative position. The Geological Survey of 

 the West Indies divided them into five groups*. Of these, the strata 

 exposed at San Eernando, which wore probably included in the 

 " Naparina Marls," and those classified as the " Tamana Series," seem 

 to me to be the oldest. The beds at San Eernando consist of gypseous 

 marls, with shales and irregular limestones, all inclined at a very 

 high angle. In the annexed section (fig. 1) I have endeavoured to 

 give an idea of the stratigraphy of the beds, which is very obscure, 

 owing to the face of the cliff being in great part hidden by slips 

 from the top. 



N. 

 Paradise Gate. 



Eig. 1. — Section at San Fernando (| mile). 



Paradise. 



14 15 16 



1. Brown clays and marls, sometimes indurated. 



2, 3. Grypseous marls, with indurated layers and beds strongly impregnated 



with asphalt. Concretions containing fossils converted into selenite. 



4. Indurated asphaltic marl. 



5. Irregular dark-blue limestone, containing numerous fossils generally con- 



verted into calcspar, or replaced by semiliquid asphalt (Ranina and fish- 

 teeth). 



6. Asphaltic marls, inore or less indurated, with occasional fossils ( Orbifoides,&.c. ). 



7. Sandstone ( Tarritella, Cardium, NummuUna). 



8. Dark indurated marls and shales containing much asphalt. 



9. Orbitoides-bed. Black asphaltic bed consisting chiefly of the shells of Orbitoides 



and Nummulina. 



10. Asphaltic and gypseous clays, shales, and marls {Terebratida, Echinolam])as, 



Trochus, Cardita, Orbitoides, &c., chiefly found in indurated gypseous 

 layers or nodular concretions). 



11. Indurated marls containing much asphalt. Fossils very rare. 



12. 14, 16. Blue clays, unfossiliferous. 



13. 15, 17. Grypseous marls. Fossils rare and usually imperfect. 



* Eeport on the Geology of Trinidad, p. 35. 



