110 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPAEATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



VITI LEVU REEFS. 

 Plates 1, 3, 5, 6, T, 30a, Figs. 9-12, and Plates 24-45. 



The great barrier and fringiug reef which follows the southern and 

 part of the eastern coasts of Viti Levu may be said to begin oli" the north- 

 eastern extremity of the island of Ovalau (Plates 3, 7). Ofi" that island 

 a spur of the barrier reef extends in a northerly direction, terminating in 

 deep water (Plate 3). From that point to otf Tova Peak there is no 

 barrier reef, tlie bottom being generally muddy, formed from the decom- 

 position of the islets coniposed of soapstone, which are scattered in great 

 number between Ovalau Island and the island of Viti Levu. Similar 

 islands and islets abound along the shore of Viti Levu, and between it 

 and the outer reef south of Moturiki towards Mbau and the Tomberua 

 Passage (Plate 7). 



The islands of Viwa (Plate 36) and Mbau are both composed of 

 stratified volcanic mud resting upon harder volcanic rocks, and the whole 

 shore line of the adjoining part of Viti Levu is made up of the same ma- 

 terial, judging by what we could see of the shore bluffs as we steamed 



FRINGING REEF HARBOR, OFF KORO LEVU. 



from the Moturiki Channel to Mbau. The soft rocks of the shores of that 

 part of Viti Levu are readily disintegrated, and their erosion and denu- 

 dation have supplied the material for the extensive mud flats (Plate 35) 

 Ivinu in the area just mentioned (Plate 7), leaving endless patches and 

 small flats more or less covered with patches of growing corals. These 

 softer rocks rest upon harder volcanic rocks, the extension of the rocks 

 which attain a considerable height in Moturiki and a still greater one in 

 the peaks of Ovalau.^ 



1 Both Ovalau and Moturiki are surrounded by a fringing reef. 



