130 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY, 



It is very probable that this plateau oflF the southwest coast of Vanua 

 Levu represents the denuded and eroded slope of its western coast when 

 it once extended near to the 100 fathom line. Tlje only remnants of 

 this former extension are the islands of Namena, i^assage Island, and 

 the numberless rocks and coral patches studded over the surface of the 

 plateau and found along its edge. 



The reefs of Makongai and Wakaya represent a stage of denudation 

 and erosion less advanced than that of the oS^amena Reef, and of the reefs 

 extending towards Vatu i ra Channel north of Makongai Channel. 



From Cape Undu south the shores of Vanua Levu on both sides of 

 Nateva Bay (Plate 4) are bordered by a fringing reef. From Savu Savu 

 Bay the south shore is also protected by a fringing reef, which extends 

 as far as Fawn Harbor ; from there the fringing reef becomes a narrow 

 barrier reef at a short distance from the shore, passing round Vienna Bay, 

 and forming the Kioa Reefs, and the Florida and Texas reefs on the outer 

 edge of the plateau upon which are the islands of Kioa and Eambe (Plates 

 4, 18). The horn of the Texas reef extends about five miles beyond 

 liambe, and returns to form a fringing and barrier reef on the north 

 shore of that island, and connects with the barrier reefs oflf Kumbalau 

 Point. 



The Eambe Plateau (Plates 4, 18), as we may call the eroded eastern 

 extension of Navukau Promontory, is another admirable example of the 

 mode of formation by submarine erosion of such plateaus as those off the 

 southwest coast of Vanua Levu, off the eastern point of Kandavu, and 

 off the east face of Taviuni. The island of Rambe rises to a height of 

 over 1,500 feet ; it is nearly nine miles long, and about four and a half 

 broad (Plate 18). Like Kioa, the other large is^and on the plateau, 

 which is over 900 feet high, it is of volcanic structure. The plateau 

 upon which these islands rise, and the accompanying islets, rocks, and 

 patches, has a greatest depth of thirty-five fathoms, and an average 

 depth of about twenty. 



The Rambe plateau and the one to the east of Taviuni (Plates 4, 18), 

 from which rise Ngamia and Lauthala, show more plainly than either 

 Makongai or Wakaya the former connection with the larger islands of 

 A^anua Levu and Taviuni. The promontory of which Cape Undu is the 

 termination would, if denuded and eroded, have resulted in the formation 

 of a plateau spit similar in all respects to that constituting the Namena 

 barrier reef off the south coast of Vanua Levu. And finally the further 

 disintegration of such irregularly shaped islands with encircling reefs as 

 those of Makongai and Wakaya (Plate 15) would give us a ready ex- 



