228 NATURAL SCIENCE. April. 



Funafuti. 



In the first number of Natural Science an article was published 

 discussing the proposed attempt to settle the " coral island "controversy 

 by a deep boring into a reef. The proposal has since been carried out, 

 and a small batch of papers gives us the preliminary results. In 

 regard to the question which it was the main object of the expedition 

 to solve, the result is disappointing, because it is inconclusive. The 

 mechanical difficulties which, as pointed out in Natural Science, 

 foiled the attempted borings made by the " Tuscarora," have again 

 proved insurmountable. All students of the coral island question have 

 long known that a coral reef is not a solid block of coral, but consists of 

 nodular masses of coral separated by intervening patches of sand and 

 coral debris, and sometimes even of mud. When the reefs are raised 

 above sea level these intervening patches of loose material are soon 

 cemented by infiltration of carbonate of lime into a fairly hard rock ; 

 but so long as the reef is below sea-level, and is saturated with water, 

 the materials remain loose and incoherent. The Funafuti boring tool 

 on both occasions soon reached beds of soft slime, which effectually 

 prevented progress. These beds may be either part of a volcanic basis 

 of the atoll, or may be only exceptionally large masses of the intra-reef 

 sediments or beds of volcanic mud which accumulated during a period 

 when reef-building was temporarily supended, perhaps by a too rapid 

 sinking. So the coral island controversy stands where it stood before. 



The expedition, however, has by no means been a general 

 failure. The detailed survey of the ocean bottom around Funafuti, 

 made by H.M.S. " Penguin," is alone of great value. Mr. Gardner 

 has made zoological collections which have not yet been worked out, 

 while Mr. Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum has gathered the 

 materials for a very interesting account of the geology, botany, and 

 ethnology of the island. This has been published as an eighty-six 

 page paper, issued as the third of the Memoirs of the Australian Museum. 

 The first batch of the zoological reports is included, but those 

 dealing with the Invertebrata, of which a large collection was made, 

 are not yet issued. 



Mr. Hedley's account of the vegetation and ethnology of Funafuti 

 is full of points of interest. Thus in respect to the old controversy as 

 to the distribution of the coco-nut palm, the author opposes the view 

 that the range of this tree is increased by ocean currents. 



The natives have all abandoned paganism and are fast forgetting 

 their ancient customs. Nevertheless Mr. Hedley was able to learn a 

 good deal from native tales, which, however, appear to be already 

 suffering from European influence. The Hydrographer to the 

 Admiralty has recently published a note in Nature, maintaining 

 that the soundings suggest that Funafuti and the other Ellice Atolls 

 originated by growth on volcanic banks. Mr. Hedley on the contrary 

 thinks that evidence on the whole supports Darwin's theory, though 

 the grounds on which he bases this conclusion are not very substantial. 



