ON THE GEOLOGY OF 13ARBAD0S. 195 



(2) Fossils from the Calcareous Earths. — The only fossils yet 

 obtained from these earths are foraminifera. Samples of the deposits 

 were sent to the late Dr. H. B. Brady, who kindly undertook to examine 

 and report upon them. He did examine most of these in 1889, and 

 sent us a preliminary report in December of that year, with a list of 

 the species (81 in number) which he had identified up to that date ; 

 at the same time he stated that, owing to its coherence, the material 

 was not easy to manipulate, and if we could send him samples of 

 the looser beds or rainwash from the coherent chalks, he would 

 examine them as soon as he had completed his work on the raised 

 deposits of the Pacific Islands. Samples were obtained and sent to 

 him, but he was unable to finish their examination before his death 

 in January 1891. His courtesy and readiness to impart information 

 were known to all who applied to him, and while especially regretting 

 the loss which has deprived us of further information, we esteem 

 ourselves fortunate in being able to present the Society with a report 

 which contains much of interest and importance. 



Eeport by the late De. H. B. Beady. 



" I have made a preliminary examination, in respect of the 

 foraminifera they contain, of most of the specimens of earthy 

 deposits from Barbados which joii sent to me. The results, though 

 far from complete, possess considerable interest, and as I am unable at 

 present to continue the investigation I send them to you as they 

 stand. 



" The physical character of these Barbados rocks is not favourable 

 for the separation of microzoa. With one exception the specimens 

 sent were fine-grained and compact, without being very hard ; easily 

 broken into fragments, but very difficult to disintegrate completely 

 by washing or other mechanical means. Chemical reagents are 

 inadmissible where foraminifera are concerned, and the amount of 

 force needful for the reduction of the rock to its constituent particles 

 is sufficient to break up the more delicate forms : while the close 

 adherence of portions of the matrix obscures the external characters 

 of the larger specimens. It may be urged that the difficulties are 

 not greater than in the case of common white chalk, which often 

 presents very similar characters ; but chalk is not uniformly so 

 intractable, and, from its abundance, larger quantities can be 

 operated upon at one time. Besides which, we already know what 

 forms to expect from the various Cretaceous beds, and the identifi- 

 cation of specimens with some adherent matrix is comparatively 

 easy. 



" Nine specimens of the Barbados deposits, weighing from 1| ounce 

 to 4 ounces, have been washed, and the residues examined. Of these 

 one, ]3resenting altogether diflPerent features from the rest, may be 

 set aside and treated separately. Although much labour was 

 expended on the other eight samples, in no case was the washing 

 quite satisfactorily accomplished ; and the residues, which in seven 

 of them only ranged from 1 to 6 per cent, of the original weight, 



