

NOV 24 1900 



No. 1. — Notes on the Limestones and General Geology of the Fiji 

 Islands, ivith Special Reference to the Lau Group. Based 

 upon Surveys made for Alexander Agassiz. By E. C. 



Andrews. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



By Alexander Agassiz. 



After my exploration of Fiji during the winter of 1897-98, it became 

 evident that many of the problems which suggested themselves while 

 passing from island to island could only be solved by a careful examina- 

 tion of well-selected localities representing the typical structures of the 

 islands and coral reefs of Fiji. 



It seemed best that the selection of a well-equipped explorer should 

 be made from Australasia, and I naturally turned to Professor David of 

 Sydney for advice ; he most kindly interested himself in the project. 

 At his recommendation, Mr. E. C. Andrews, assisted by Mi*. B. Sawyer 

 (both of the University of Sydney), consented to undertake the explora- 

 tion of the most accessible and interesting of the Fiji Islands. 



The collections made by Mr. Andrews have safely arrived in Cambridge ; 

 they will be worked up in connection with the collections which I made 

 myself in Fiji, and at the same time with a mass of similar material 

 collected during the last expedition of the U. S. F. C. S. " Albatross " 

 in the Tropical Pacific from August, 1899, to March, 1900. 



The limestones collected by the " Albatross " represent material 

 brought together from the Paumotus, Xiue, the Tonga Islands, and 

 Guam. Of course, a considerable time must elapse before this large col- 

 lection can be properly examined and the results compared with those 

 obtained by Mr. Hill and myself from an exploration of the reefs and 

 the elevated limestones of the "West Indian area (Bermudas, Florida, the 

 Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, San Domingo, and the Windward Islands). 



I intended to publish the report of Mr. Andrews with a running com- 

 mentary based upon my exploration of Fiji, but with the wider expe- 

 rience lately gained in the Tropical Pacific, it seemed best to issue that 

 report with few comments, and in the final report on the coral reefs of 



