366 THE GEOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL ° [ Aug. 1902, 
kind corresponding to the greatest river of Western EKurope—the 
Rhine. Moreover, if the West Indies in Pleistocene times formed 
a bridge between North and South America, the fauna of the islands 
would testify to the fact. It does nothing of the kind, as was 
shown by Mr. G. F. Harris in 1895, with regard to the land- 
mollusca, in his remarks on Prof. Gregory’s paper. The evidence 
regarding the mammals is, if possible, even more strongly opposed to 
the Author’s views. There are no monkeys, carnivora, or ungulata 
even in the large West Indian Islands, but only bats, insectivora, 
and rodents. Omitting bats, the rodents and insectivora of Cuba, 
Hayti, and Jamaica have quite as strong affinities with African as 
with American forms. There are no insectivora in South America, 
and the North American genera are remote from the West Indian, the 
nearest allies of the latter being found in Madagascar. It is possible 
that the West Indian mammals entered the country when it was 
part of a land extending from South America to Africa, and since 
the immigration of these types, which must have been in the older 
Tertiary times, there is nothing ,to show that the West Indies as 
a whole have been united to either North or South America. 
Prof, Soizas said that he could add but little to the weighty words 
of the last speaker ; but it appeared to him that the more important 
part of these interesting papers lay in their study of stratigraphical ' 
correlations, which afforded fresh evidence of the wide-reaching 
character of the Oligocene transgression, and was a solid contribution 
to the geology of the Islands. 
It was unfortunate that in the more theoretical part of the 
papers, terminology was employed which wholly begged the 
point at issue. Submarine depressions of various form existed, but 
no convincing evidence had been adduced to show that these were 
cirques and valleys. Without doubt the area had been subject to 
great tectonic changes, but these were not necessarily of the age 
nor of the nature assumed ; if land-connections were required for 
the migration of terrestrial animals, they could be more economically 
obtained by bridging the gaps between the islands, and a subsequent 
fracturing and subsidence of the bridges might then be admitted. 
Prof. Watrs, by permission of the President, read the following 
remarks sent by Mr. A. J. Juxns-Brownz :— 
‘I notice that the Author’s paper on Barbados deals mainly with the 
Raised Coral-Reefs, and that his examination of these rocks has led him to 
find three distinct formations in what Prof. Harrison and I regarded as one 
continuous series. Apparently he only admits the two newer of these 
“formations” to be Pleistocene, and claims that the oldest beds contain an 
Oligocene fauna. On the strength of this he refers the Oceanic Series to the 
Eocene, and the Scotland Beds to a still earlier period. 
‘ All this alteration in the classification of the Barbadian sequence appears to 
depend entirely on the identification of the corals which have been obtained 
from different levels, and on their comparison with Antiguan and American 
species. J understand, however, that the Author has not added much to the 
fauna of the high-level reefs, and that the beds which he would refer to the 
Oligocene occur at low levels near Bridgetown and at Ragged Point. 
‘Prof. Harrison and I have admitted that the oldest reef-rocks and the 
Globigerina-marls may be of Pliocene age; but it will need very strong evidence 
to prove that any parts of what we took to be low-level reefs are ancient 
