188 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



Brady's study of the Foraminifera in the "soapstone" at Suva is of interest 

 for comparison with the report on the organisms found in the Funafuti boring. 1 

 The lower part of the Funafuti boring might be of Tertiary age. The chemical 

 nature of the material obtained in the bore indicates, as F. W. Clarke has 

 pointed out, 2 two different formations beneath the surface layer. 



Disregarding the problematic age of the lower part of the Funafuti bore, 

 there is a gradually increasing body of evidence that sedimentary deposits of 

 Tertiary age, Miocene to Pliocene, are widely distributed in Oceania, and that 

 they occur both in such islands as the Fijis, which are believed to be remnants 

 of a former continental mass, and in the truly oceanic islands. It seems that 

 changes in altitude of some at least of the oceanic islands have been less during 

 Recent geologic times than supposed by some geologists. 



Corals from Pago Pago Harbor, Samoa. 



With the approval of Dr. Mayor, an arrangement was made with Mr. J. 

 Edward Hoffmeister, a graduate student in geology in Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, to study and prepare a report, under my direction, on the corals 

 collected by Dr. Mayor in Samoa. Prior to this arrangement I had examined 

 a part of the collection and had given Dr. Mayor a provisional list of a con- 

 siderable number of the species. The number of species in the collection is 

 estimated to be between 45 and 60, of which Mr. Hoffmeister has already 

 studied 16 species belonging to the genera Pocillopora, Leptastrea, Galaxea, 

 Orbicella, Favia, Favites, and Leptoria. Mr. Hoffmeister resumed work on 

 the collection about the middle of September (1922) and hopes to complete 

 the report by the summer of 1923. 



This is a valuable collection for three reasons: (1) it represents an area the 

 coral fauna of which is inadequately known; (2) it is as nearly complete as in 

 reason may be expected, and therefore really gives an adequate idea of the 

 composition of the fauna; and (3) every specimen in the collection was taken 

 with careful attention to its environmental conditions. The report on this 

 collection will, therefore, constitute an important addition to knowledge of 

 the geographic distribution and ecologic relations of modern coral faunas. 



Bottom Samples from Pago Pago Harbor, Samoa. 



When Dr. Mayor first sent me the bottom samples collected in Pago Pago 

 Harbor I hoped to study them personally, but pressure of other work prevented 

 my doing that. It was therefore necessary to make other provisions and Mr. 

 M. N. Bramlette, of the U. S. Geological Survey, was engaged to examine and 

 report on the samples. The mechanical analyses were made by the Bureau of 

 Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and the chemical analyses were made 

 by Mr. L. G. Fairchild, of the Chemical Laboratory of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. Without this assistance proper study of the samples and the prepara- 

 tion of a report would not have been possible. 



On May 1, 1922, Mr. Bramlette had completed the examination of 18 of the 

 28 samples submitted and the mechanical analyses for all 28 had been finished. 

 Two type samples had been studied in detail, following the procedure of Gold- 

 man in his study of two samples from Murray Island, Australia. 3 The other 



1 G. J. Hinde, Report on the materials from the borings at the Funafuti Atoll. The Atoll of 

 Funafuti, Royal Society of London, pp. 186-360, 1904. 



2 F. W. Clarke and W. C. Wheeler, The inoganic constituents of marine invertebrates and 

 calcareous algae. U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Pap. 102, p. 53, 1917. 



3 Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. 213, pp. 249-262, 1918. 



