82 BERMUDA. 



hard, compact limestone, with conchoidal fracture 

 and translucency on the edges ; and at other places 

 they exist as a dry, soft, friable chalk, or soft marl, 

 in which are found a great variety of shells, many 

 of them in perfect preservation. In many places 

 the organic remains constitute the principal, and in 

 all, a very considerable proportion, of this formation ; 

 and it has been observed, that although these 

 remains are intimately blended together in the 

 common structure, they still appear to be arranged 

 in families. 



Upon the strata of the coralHne mass, beds of a 

 white shelly sandstone are occasionally to be found. 

 This species of sandstone is quarried for building 

 purposes. It is very porous. When the beds are 

 suflSciently thick, they have some appearance of 

 stratification. 



Calcareous spar occurs abundantly, and frequently 

 white granular limestone, which is attached to the 

 common rock, and, like the spar, appears to have 

 been deposited in accidental cavities at a compara- 

 tively recent period. 



This calcareous formation is extremely cavernous ; 

 so that dislocations and sinking of the surface occa- 

 sionally take place ; and, from general appearances, 

 I am inclined to believe that they occurred very 



