516 E. J. L. GUPPY OK THE MIOCENE POSSILS OP HAITI. 



55. On Hie Miocene Fossils of Haiti. By II. J. Lechmeee Gtjppy, 

 Esq.,F.L.S., F.G.S., C.M.Z.S., President of the Scientific Asso- 

 ciation of Trinidad. (Head May 10, 1876.) 



[Plates XXVIII. & XXIX.] 



A very important memoir " On the Topography and Geology of 

 Santo Domingo " has recently been published by Professor Gabb*. 

 "Whatever tends to elucidate the geology of the island of Haiti must 

 of course contribute to our knowledge of West-Indian and American 

 geology generally, and may also throw further light upon some of 

 the problems connected therewith which have not as yet been 

 solved. 



Santo Domingo is a republic occupying two thirds of the Island 

 of Haiti. A very large portion of the territory comprised within 

 its boundaries has been geologically surveyed and mapped out by 

 Prof. Gabb and his assistants. The formations examined by them 

 are classified as Postplioccne, Miocene, and Cretaceous. Eruptive 

 rocks are also developed to a largo extent. 



It is not my intention to speak of the geological part of Prof. 

 Gabb's labours. That could only be done usefully by those ac- 

 quainted with the country and conversant with its structure. My 

 present business is with the palaoontological portion of the work. 



The Geological Society possesses the first regular collection of 

 fossil Tertiary shells and corals made in Haiti, and, indeed, I might 

 almost say, in the West Indies. This collection contains the types 

 of the species described by Sowerby for Mr. Carrick Moore, and by 

 Prof. Duncan. I have from time to time, when treating of the West- 

 Indian Tertiary rocks and fossils, alluded to the fact that several of 

 the species contained in that collection were unnamed. 



Most of those species have now been described by Prof. Gabb ; 

 but it is to be regretted that his work is not accompanied by figures, 

 so that our determinations may sometimes be open to doubts which 

 the aid of pictorial illustration would enable us to dispel. 



In' the Proceedings of the Scientific Association of Trinidad for 

 December 1873, I described several new fossils from Jamaica ; and 

 deeming it desirable that those fossils should be more widely known 

 than they could be by means of that publication, whose circulation 

 is very limited, I republished the descriptions and figures in the 

 ' Geological Magazine ' for September and October 1874, together 

 with a revised list of the organic remains (exclusive of the corals 

 and other fossils) which had been found in the Tertiary deposits 

 of the Caribbean region. This list was a revision of one previously 

 published by me in the Proceedings of the Scientific Association of 

 Trinidad for 1867. The first knowledge I had of Prof. Gabb's work 



* Trans. Anier. Phil. Soc. vol. xv. p. 49, with a geological map of Santo 

 Domingo. See also, for the new genera described, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. 

 1872, p. 270. 



