THE three species of Brachiopoda which form the subject of the present communication, were obtained from the gypseous marls containing Orbitoides Mantelli and Nummulina, exposed near the town of San Fernando in Trinidad*. I have alluded to these beds in my papers on the Mollusca of Jamaica and on the Echinodermata of the West Indies. The Gasteropoda and Conchifera contained in these deposits, are for the most part in bad condition, and generally specifically indeterminable; but in the papers alluded to I have given the names of such species as I have been able to determine. I have not found any form which could be referred with any degree of probability to recent species; and this circumstance combined with the stratigraphical position of the beds, the occurrence of Echinolampas ovum-serpentis, the great development of Orbitoides Mantelli, &c. have led me to believe that these strata belong to a lower horizon in the Miocene series than the deposits in Jamaica, Cumana, and Cuba. The evidence furnished by the Brachiopoda now described, can hardly be considered to throw much new light upon the question. They seem, indeed, to be suggestive of Cretaceous affinities; their resemblances to known Tertiary and recent forms not being very pronounced.

It has been suggested to me that, considering the apparent Mesozoic type of these Brachiopoda, they may be derivative fossils, but I see no ground for this supposition. The specimens are not in condition to warrant such a presumption; they do not occur near the base of the series exposed at San Fernando; they are referable to a genus still existing, and represented in Tertiary rocks. Besides which, Mr. Barrett has discovered similar Brachiopoda in the Mio

*See Geologist,' vol. VII., p. 159.

cene deposits of Jamaica, as stated in a letter of that naturalist quoted by Dr. Woodward, an extract from which will be found in a note to my paper on the Jamaica fossils (p. 281). It is even possible that one of Mr. Barrett's fossils may be identical with one of the species now described. At any rate these fossils are interesting as being, as I believe they are, the first Brachiopoda described from Miocene beds in the West Indies.

None of the fossils now under consideration at all resemble Maltese forms; and herein they differ remarkably from many of the other organic remains from the Caribean Miocene beds, especially the Echinodermata and the Corals.

All the species have been ascertained to be punctate.

1. TEREBRATULA TRINITATENSIS, spec. nov. Pl. XIX. figs. 1a, 1b. Shell smooth, gibbous, irregularly pentagonal, somewhat longer than wide, marked by wide shallow and obscure sulci of growth, which become finer and more distinct towards the margins; frontedge nearly straight; ventral valve convex and rounded towards the beak, flattened towards the front edge; dorsal valve convex, with an obscure carination radiating to each angle of the front edge; beak large, scarcely incurved over the dorsal valve, truncate by a rather large subcircular foramen, from which a wide and shallow sulcus extends forwards.

2. TEREBRATULA CARNEOIDES spec. nov. Pl. XIX. fig. 2.

Shell suboval or suborbicular, smooth, striated by fine lines of growth; ventral valve convex with a tendency to carination along its mesial portion from the beak to the front margin; dorsal valve rather evenly convex, with an obscure slightly raised mesial fold; front margin rounded or somewhat produced; beak small, scarcely curved over the umbo of the dorsal valve, pierced by a very small foramen.

The front margin of the example figured is imperfect, but in another less perfect specimen it is more folded and produced, giving a suboval shape to the shell. The first-mentioned example resembles in some respects T. carnea from the chalk.

3. TEREBRATULA LECTA, spec. nov. Pl. XIX. fig. 3.

Shell suboval, smooth, sulcated by lines of growth which are strong and well marked towards the margins, and which are crossed by obsolete radiating grooves; front edge plicate and sinuate; ventral valve somewhat compressed, especially towards the front margin; dorsal valve convex, with a slightly raised mesial foid; beak scarcely incurved, truncated by a large circular foramen.

NOTE on the FOREGOING PAPER. By T. DAVIDSON, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. THE subject relating to Tertiary Brachiopoda is one of considerable importance, since the fossils of this period, taken under the homotaxeous' view, connect the Cretaceous with the Recent fauna. A