AGASSIZ: BAHAMAS. 145 



An examination of the sections across Martinique (Plate VIT. Fig. 5), 

 Grenada (Plate Vll. Fig. 6), the Grenadines (Plate VII. Fig. 7), Domin- 

 ica (Plate VII. Fig. 8), and St. Lucia (Plate VII. Fig. 9), will show the 

 same character of the western slope of the islands. Off the Mont- 

 serrat and Antigua Bank (Plate VII. Fig. 4) this does not hold, the 

 eastern slope being the steepest ; nor is it the case with the ridge of 

 which Barbados is the summit, the eastern face being the steeper (Plate 

 VII. Figs. 7, 9). A section from north to south across the Virgin Island 

 Bank (Plate VII. Fig. 2) shows a steeper slope on the southern face 

 within the 500 fathom line. 



That is, the continental slopes, or the slopes of such straits as the 

 Florida Straits, are less steep than the ocean slopes within the area 

 of the limestone banks. 



THE CORAL REEFS AND BANKS OF THE 

 CARIBBEAN DISTRICT. 



Plate VIII. 



The following notes on the reefs and banks of the Windward Islands 

 and of the Greater Antilles were made during my connection with the 

 expeditions of the " Blake " from 1877 to 1880. As they bear upon the 

 general theory of the coral reefs, they are now published more in detail 

 than in the general account of the " Three Cruises of the Blake." The 

 statements concerning the reefs of the north coast of Cuba, and of the 

 south shore from Cape Maysi to Santiago de Cuba, are based upon per- 

 sonal examination, as well as those on the Florida reefs and the Yucatan 

 Bank. In making up my notes I was obliged to consult nearly all the 

 recently published charts of the Caribbean. This has led me to add a 

 short account of the distribution of the coral reefs of the north coast of 

 South America from Trinidad to Costa Rica, and also along the Mosquito, 

 Nicaragua, and Honduras coasts, as far as Cape Catoche on the Yucatan 

 Bank. With the exception of the coast near Aspinwall I have not exam- 

 ined any of the reefs or the outlying banks off the Mosquito coast, off 

 Honduras, or those between Jamaica and the Mosquito Bank. Neither 

 have I visited the line of shoals extending from Cayman Brae to Miste- 

 riosa Bank. 



The reefs of the Windward Islands are almost without exception on 

 their weather side, and on Saba Bank, off Anegada, and on the bank east 



VOL. XXVI. — NO. 1. 10 



