Guppy Reprint 



Page 41 



and there are also specific affinities with the other ter- 

 tiaries of the Island, as mentioned in Sec. 2. But it 

 does not seem, from the lists* given by the Geological 

 Survey, that there is, anywhere, as far as has been dis- 

 covered, the same assemblage of species. The number 

 of recent forms in the beds under consideration forbids 

 us however to assign an older date than the "upper 

 part of the New Parian" to them ; and further, the 

 shells from the deposits described in the Geological Re- 

 port do not possess that feature of diminutiveness which 

 is so remarkable in the Matura fossils. The ark found 

 so abundantly in most of the Tertiary deposits of this 

 Island {Area ineongrua) seems to be absent from the 

 Matura beds. Further researches will be required to 

 show how far some of the species of arctic types now 

 existing in the West Indian seas may have commenced 

 their existence in the tropics from the date of the sup- 

 posed glacial influence. 



There is a ferruginous conglomerate at Saline Bay, 

 some little distance north of the Matura deposit, which 

 may possibly belong to the same period as the latter ; 

 but it seems to be unfosssiliferous. 



6 . — Cone/ 'ud big Rem a rks . 



The facts relative to the Matura Deposits may be of 

 great interest and importance when our knowledge shall 

 have been far enough advanced to enable us to pronounce 

 with some degree of certainty on the physical changes 

 of this part of South America in late geological epochs. 

 There is a great deal to be done in this respect. Be- 

 fore any set of conclusions can be established firmly, 

 the observations on which they have been founded must 

 be confirmed by prolonged investigation. There is, 

 however, an interest of its own attaching to the explo- 

 ration of our later tertiaries, and with regard to the 

 Matura deposit, I may quote the very apposite remark 

 of Mr. Smith, of Jordanhill, "as it belongs to one of 

 ' the first steps in the descending series, every circum- 



*Report on the Geology of Trinidad p. 163-6. 



