414 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Mar. 23, 
ness of the whole group is many times greater than this, a portion 
of the series in Venezuela being probably inferior in position to the 
rocks exposed in Trinidad. A high angle of inclination almost 
everywhere prevails, the general range of dip being from 30° to the 
vertical. 
After noticing the difficulty which has hitherto existed in deter- 
mining the age of the Caribbean formation, from the want of fossil. 
evidence, the author stated that he has found undoubted traces of 
the existence of organisms during the deposition of these rocks. 
In the uppermost compact dark-blue limestone (No. 4) obscure 
fossils occur. In the clay-slates and quartz-rocks (No. 3) under- 
lying this limestone there are strings and bands of calcareous matter 
which sometimes contain fossils. In a portion of one of these 
strings found by the author about 3 feet below the surface in the 
decomposed mica-slate forming the soil of one of the valleys, he de- 
tected a structure which he regards as of animal origin, and as pro- 
bably most nearly related to Hozoon. He was unable to detect any 
traces of tubulation in it, but suggests that this character may have 
been obliterated, as in the Tudor specimen (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. 
vol. xxiii. p. 257). The chambers are said by the author to be more 
elliptical than those of Hozoon canadense; and for this and other 
reasons he proposed to regard it as a new species, under the name 
of Hozoon carihbeum. 
Associated with this supposed Hozoon, the author has found other 
remains. These include fragments of coral, some of which are 
stated to resemble /wvosites, although no pores or tabule could be 
detected in them. These fragments are thought by the author to 
have belonged to a minute branching Favosites, which he proposes 
to name /. fenestralis. Plates and stems of Echinoderms are scat- 
tered through the rock. The author particularly described a spe- 
cimen consisting of five ambulacral plates, with four pairs of pores, 
and another fragment showing portions of at least twenty ambu- 
lacral or pseudo-ambulacral plates, reminding one of those of the 
Devonian Hleacrinus. 
The author has found that the bands of calcareous matter inter- 
stratified among the slates are seldom devoid of organic remains, 
except when they are very highly metamorphic. In a finely lami- 
nated limestone he found great abundance of obscure fossils, many 
of which appeared to be remains of Cystidea, whilst others resem- 
bled annelid-tubes, like Salterella. . 
The author suggested that the function of Hozoon in pre-Cam- 
brian times was analogous to that of corals at subsequent periods. 
He considered that there is the highest probability that the Caribbean 
series will ultimately prove to be pre-Silurian. 
Discussion. 
Dr. Carpenter, from the slight examination he had been able to 
make of the fossils, was unwilling to speak decidedly about them. 
There was, however, no doubt of numerous organic remains occur- 
ring in the rocks, and among them serpuline shells and echinoderms. 
