32 PROCEEDIN-GS OF THE GEOLOaiCAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 4, 



the Pacific within comparatively recent geological times." Mr. Verrill 

 sums up thus : — " Therefore, had the gulf-stream ever flowed across 

 the isthmus since the commencement of the Tertiary period, we 

 ought to find, if not living corals identical with those at the West 

 Indies, at least elevated remains of former reefs of similar kinds, no 

 traces of which are yet known." I must refer Mr. Yerrill to the 

 " traces " published by Eeuss as regards Java, by Mr. Carrick Moore 

 and Mr. (xuppy concerning Jamaica and Trinidad, and by myself in 

 the " Possil Corals of the West-Indian Islands." 



Whilst this communication was passing through the press, the 

 Society received the ' Memorie della Eeale Accademia delle Scienze di 

 Torino,' Serie Seconda, vol. xxiii. 1866. In this volume there is 

 a most elaborate and valuable contribution by MM. P. Duchassaing 

 de Poubressin et Jean Michelotti, in the form of a supplement to 

 their essay on the CoraUiaires des Antilles, which was noticed in 

 the first part of the " Possil Corals of the West-Indian Islands." 

 This important supplementary essay appears to have been read on 

 May 3, 1863, but was only published in 1866 ; consequently MM. 

 Duchassaing and Michelotti had not received my essay on the Geology 

 of Jamaica, Pebruary 1865, when they wrote ; but it was pubhshed 

 long before their essay was printed. Several species which I have 

 described are therefore not included in their list of fossil Corals. 



It is very interesting to notice how the careful studies of these 

 naturalists tend to enhance the views I have advocated, and to 

 prove that the Miocene and existing Coral-fauna of the Caribbean 

 are very different. I have introduced some of the facts collected by 

 MM. Duchassaing and Michelotti in footnotes, and, whilst acknow- 

 ledging the studious care mth which they have recorded my labours, 

 I venture to make the following remarks ; for it is evident that on 

 some subjects there is a mutual misconception. With regard to my 

 retaining the genus CyatJiina instead of Carijophylla. Pollowing 

 the procedure of MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime, I adopted 

 " Cyatliina,^^ and, like those palaeontologists, when I saw that 

 Caryopliyllia ought to have priority, I adopted what Messrs. Mi^t. 

 Duchassaing and Michelotti term ^' Ce precede tres-logique." In my 

 supplement to the " British Possil Corals," Palaeontological Society, 

 London, 1866, this fact is obvious. 



In my "Geology of Jamaica," which forms part of this series of 

 ' Essays on the West Indian Possil Corals,' Pebruary 1865, it will be 

 observed that I am also " tres-logique ; " for I follow MM. Milne- 

 Edwards and Jules Haime, and term Asfrcea " Heliastnea." The sy- 

 nonymy of the fossil Corals which I have given I trust will satisfy 

 my fellow-labourers in West-Indian Geology. Caryopliyll'ia Ber- 

 teriana, Duchass., is a recent species at Guadeloupe ; and therefore 

 there is a (CyatJiina) Caryopliyllia in the Caribbean. 



I do not think that, because several Placocyatlii have been found 

 fossil in the West-Indian Miocene deposits, P. ajoertus, a recent 

 form, whose habitat is unknown, should have a Caribbean habitat 

 given to it, but the contrary. 



MM. Duchassaing and Michelotti notice that, although they 



