692 MR. E. J. LECHMERE GUPPT. ON THE GEOLOGY [KoV. I9II, 



forth in these pages will commend itself to all who consider the 

 matter carefully. I will, however, offer a passing allusion to one 

 other point. Purves says of the Calcareous Formation : — 



' La puissance de cette vaste formation calcaire indique qu'elle s'est deposee 

 pendant une longue periode d'affaissement du sol qui a suivi l'extinction de 

 l'activite volcanique.' (Bull. Mus. Eoy. Hist. Nat. Belg. vol. iii, 1884-85, 

 p. 307.) 



For this to be true the island must have been sunk below the 

 sea-level for an immense period after the cessation of volcanic 

 activity, so as to permit the deposition upon it of a great calcareous 

 formation. Unless we suppose the relative levels of the different 

 parts of the island to have been greatly altered, the whole of it 

 (including, of course, the Central Plain, with its marine and 

 freshwater cherts and limestones) must have been submerged and 

 subsequently re-elevated. And, in such a case, how is it that the 

 Calcareous Formation was confined to one area instead of extending 

 over the whole island ? But there is absolutely no evidence for 

 any such submergence and re-elevation, which must have left 

 traces of some kind upon the volcanic formations ; these, however, 

 are intact, and, allowing for denudation, in the same state now as 

 when the volcanic forces ceased their activity, nor do they show 

 any signs of ever having been submerged. But, if we suppose as 

 my theory requires, that the Calcareous Formation is older than, 

 and was upheaved at the time of, the volcanic disturbances, all 

 difficulty vanishes, for this explanation is in accordance with the 

 facts as we see them. And this leads to a further suggestion, 

 which is that the volcanic disturbances occurred during the 

 Miocene Period and after the deposition of the Cretaceous and 

 Eocene strata, and probably continued during the whole of that 

 Period. Further, during that Period the oceanic deposits were 

 accumulating in the deeper parts of the West Indian area, to be 

 gradually upheaved in places during the progress of the volcanic 

 disturbances which accompanied the sinking of Atlantis. 



III. Considerations on the Geology of Barbados. 



The same physical inabilities that beset me in Antigua also 

 followed me to Barbados ; but, here as there, I had the good-luck 

 to find friends to assist me. Mr. Percy Haynes took me in his 

 carriage from Bathsheba, where I stayed, to Bissex Hill which we 

 visited together. My object there was to examine the Foraminiferal 

 Marl ; but the exposure of it was insufficient, and the material was 

 too weathered to be of much use for my purposes. Mr. Haynes 

 gave me some specimens of sharks' teeth (Carcharodon and 

 Lamna), a cast of a Pleurotomaria, and a specimen of Echinolamjpas 

 anguillaz Cot. ( = E. lycopersicus var.), now first recorded from 

 Barbados : these came from the marls of Bissex Hill. I examined 

 a sample of these marls, and found it to consist mainly of small 

 Globigerince with a few other foraminifera, of which the most 



