144 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPA.RATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



My observations iu Fiji only emphasize what has been said so often, 

 that there is no general theory of the formation of coral reefs, either of 

 barrier reefs or atolls, applicable to all districts, and that each district 

 must be examined by itself. At least such has been my experience in the 

 Bermudas, the Bahamas, Cuba, Florida, the West Indies, the Sandwich 

 Islands, and Australia. The results of this trip show plainly that Dar- 

 win's theory is not applicable to the Fiji Islands, notwithstanding the 

 borings at Funafuti, and that, in all the cases I have examined, the reefs 

 form but a thin crust upon the underlying base, the shape and composi- 

 tion of which is not in any way due to the growth of corals of the 

 existing period. 



Cambridge, Massachusetts, 

 October Ist, 1898. 



