UPPEE CRETACEOUS. 643 



not Lam.)- In fact I am not sure but that the second of these species is also found in New 

 Grenada, whence it was previously described by Mr. Lea as T. tocaimaana, and that the present 

 one may have to be included under the same name. The gastropodous shells are of but little 

 real assistance, although the Ancillaria belongs to a type as yet only known by one of two 

 species high up in the Cretaceous; the oldest members of the famUy being in that horizon. 

 The naticoid of course has but little weight, while my generic determination of the ( ?) PugneUus 

 is not sufficiently sure to warrant me in availing myself of this reaUy valuable aid. 



The Mactra is not of any great stratigraphical value, and the other bivalves are of still 

 less importance. The baculite, if it should prove to be such, is a little fragment so embedded 

 in the matrix that it will have to be developed by grinding or polishing, since any other process 

 would inevitably destroy it. It will be thus seen that the formation is either Cretaceous or 

 Jurassic, and the preponderance of evidence is in favor of the Cretaceous. This receives addi- 

 tional weight from the results of the labors of other geologists in the Caribbean region. * * * 



Dr. P. Martin Duncan has elaborately studied and described the fossil corals of the West 

 Indies, having had large collections from nearly all of the islands at his disposal. He is quoted 

 by Mr. Etheridge as anticipating the discovery of Cretaceous rocks in Santo Domingo on 

 account of some corals from the Miocene of the Cibao, which seemed out of place in that 

 formation." 



r 17-18. CUBA. 



T. W. Vaughanhas contributed the following original notes to this work: 



Cretaceous formations possess an extensive development in Cuba. In the Province of 

 Havana calcareous strata containing Upper Cretaceous fossils occur at Santiago de los Banos. 

 Lying between the Tertiary limestones and the serpentine protaxis in the vicinity of Havana 

 are glauconitic limestones, somewhat earthy in composition, and magnesian marls, which 

 have been referred by Salterain to the Cretaceous. We consider the age of these beds as doubt- 

 ful, as neither the paleontologic nor the stratigraphic evidence is sufficient to warrant a positive 

 conclusion. 



Occurring below the lowest observed f ossUif erous Tertiary strata in the vicinity of Matanzas 

 are hmestones, sandstones, and shales which occupy the same relative stratigraphic position 

 as the supposed Cretaceous of the region near Havana and may be referable to this geologic 

 period. Cretaceous formations occupy extensive areas in the central portion of the Province 

 of Santa Clara, where such typically Cretaceous fossils as Barrettia, Requienia, etc., were 

 collected. The basement beds consist of an unfossiliferous arkose, composed very largely 

 of material derived from the underlying serpentine and granite. Above these basement beds 

 lies a hard grayish limestone replete with the remains of organisms characteristic of the Cre- 

 taceous period. Formations of the same age occur also in the vicinity of Genfuegos, and 

 Cretaceous strata of calcareous composition occupy extensive areas in the central portion of 

 the Province of Camaguey. Strata have been referred to this age in the literature on Orients 

 Province, but as no fossils have been listed there is doubt as to the extent of the area under- 

 lain by the Cretaceous in this portion of the island. Coal-bearing sandstones of no economic 

 importance occur at various places in eastern Cuba and are perhaps of Cretaceous age. 



In the Province of Pinar del Rio, between Vinales and the city of Pinar del Rio, there 

 is a hard grayish limestone overlying the schists. No paleontologic evidence as to the age 

 of this limestone was obtained, but from its stratigraphic position and general Hthologic character 

 it is referred provisionally to the Cretaceous period. 



= Etheridge (Geological report of Jamaica, Appendix V, 1869, p. 308) eays: "Dr. Duncan has also Btated hia belief 

 that 'the Hippurite limestone exists in the neighboring island of Santo Domingo, basing this opinion upon the fact 

 that corals having very decided lower Cretaceous affinities were noticed in Miocene strata ' in that island. He noticed 

 having found the European lower chalk coral Astromnia decaphyllia in the Jamaican Miocene; Phylloccenia sculpta, 

 from the Gosau and Uchaux beds, was also found in the Nijavi shale in St. Domingo, associated with four other species 

 of Turonien affinities in the same shale." 



