102  PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [May  1 893, 
molluscan  remains,  but  locally  rich  in  fossil  wood,  leaves,  and  fruits, 
to  perpetuate  the  name  of  Bagshot  in  the  list  of  British  formations. 
Deep-sea  Deposits. — Under  the  heading  of  Tertiary  Geology  it 
will  be  convenient  to  consider  this  subject,  since  certain  deposits  in 
Barbados,  described  by  Messrs.  Jukes-Browne  and  Harrison,  are 
believed  to  be  of  late  Tertiary  age.  In  the  same  connexion  also  is 
a  paper  by  Mr.  Lechmere  Guppy  on  the  Tertiary  Microzoic 
formations  of  Trinidad.  The  late  Mr.  Brady,  likewise,  made  an 
interesting  communication  to  the  Society  on  the  so-called  Soapstone 
of  Fiji,  which,  although  post-Tertiary  in  age  and  not  precisely  a 
deep-sea  formation  as  the  term  is  now  understood,  clearly  belongs 
to  the  category  of  Oceanic  deposits.  The  interest  attaching  to  the 
proofs  that  deep-sea  deposits  have  actually  been  raised  above  sea- 
level  so  as  to  form  recognizable  geological  formations  must  be  my 
excuse  for  venturing  to  deal,  however  briefly,  with  matters  which 
do  not  relate  strictly  to  our  own  islands.  The  venue  then  for  the 
moment  is  shifted  from  the  coast  of  Hampshire  to  the  islands  of 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  more  especially  to  Barbados,  whose  geology 
has  been  described  in  considerable  detail  by  Messrs.  Jukes-Browne 
and  Harrison.  These  authors  were  in  correspondence  with  Hr.  John 
Murray,  whose  conclusions  in  the  main  are  stated  to  coincide  with 
their  own,  and  they  were  further  indebted  to  Mr.  William  Hill 
and  Miss  Eaisin  for  reports  on  the  minute  structure  of  the  rocks 
submitted  to  them. 
The  geology  of  Barbados  turns  out  to  be,  on  the  whole,  tolerably 
simple,  and  one  cannot  help  feeling  surprised  at  such  statements  as 
that  of  Alexander  Agassiz,  who  assumed  the  island  to  be  a  volcanic 
cone,  entirely  surrounded  by  coral  terraces  which  completely  hide 
the  cone.1  This  statement  may  possibly  have  had  its  origin  in  the 
conventional  idea  that  an  insular  coral-formation  ought  to  be  on 
the  summit  of  a  volcanic  peak.  On  the  other  hand,  Haeckel 2 
asserts  that  the  Island  of  Barbados  consists  for  the  most  part 
of  fossil  Hadiolarian  ooze,  and  he  proceeds  to  speculate  on  the 
probability  that  in  certain  parts  of  the  tropical  Atlantic  true 
ftadiolarian  ooze,  like  that  of  the  Pacific  and  Indian  Oceans, 
will  eventually  be  found  in  depths  between  2000  and  3000  fathoms, 
perhaps  over  a  considerable  area.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Island 
of  Barbados  is  composed  of  three  formations.  The  fundamental 
rock  is  a  terrigenous  series  (Scotland  Beds)  consisting  of  grits, 
1  ‘ Cruise  of  tbe  Blake'  vol.  i.  p.  xix. 
2  ‘Challenger’  Pep.,  Zool.  vol.  xviii.  pt.  1,  p.  cli. 
