PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 397 



7.— CORAL REEFS OF THE GREAT BARRIER, QUEENS- 

 LAND: A STUDY OF THEIR STRUCTURE, LIFE- 

 DISTRIBUTION, AND RELATION TO MAINLAND 

 PHYSIOGRAPHY. 



By C. HEDLEY, F.L.S., Au-Hralian MuseAim, Sydney, and T. GRIFFITH 

 TAYLOR, B.Sc, B.E., Geolorjical Departm'int, Universily of Sydney.' 



[With Six Blocks and Three Plates.] 



1. INTRODUCTION. 



Unhappily for its subject, the controversy upon coral reefs has 

 been mainly conducted in cities distant the world's breadth from the 

 scene of investigation. Data compiled for other purposes are pressed 

 into service, and opportunities of verifying facts are denied to authors. 

 Some who discourse learnedly on coral geology have perhaps never 

 touched a living coral. It is in harmony with this disconnected study 

 that the grandest display of corals that the earth can show — the Great 

 Barrier Reef— has received scanty attention ; while the next finest 

 reef — that of New Caledonia — is absolutely untouched by scientific 

 observers. 



On the occasion of its discovery the scientific staff of the Endeavour 

 saw ruin and death in the Barrier Reef, rather than an interesting field 

 for research. 



The Barrier was fortunate in its first historian. During the survey 

 of H.M.S. Fly, in 1842-6, Professor Beete Jukes served on board as 

 naturalist, and enjoyed ample opportunities for examining what is now 

 the coast of Queensland. Endowed with keen insight and uncommon 

 literary ability, already trained in geology and zoology, he has placed 

 before us vivid pictures of its scenery, an account of its entirety, and 

 a solution of some of its problems. 



Saville Kent, during his tenure of office as Commissioner for 

 Fisheries in Queensland, visited most of the Barrier, and portrayed the 

 reefs and their constituents. 



In the course of his world-survey of coral reefs, Professor Alexander 

 Agassiz traversed the whole length of the Barrier, and recorded his 

 impressions of it. 



Professor A. C. Haddon visited Torres Strait in 1888, and produced 

 a valuable series of memoirs on the geology, fauna, and ethnology of 

 that district. 



A section of the Middle Barrier was examined in 1901 by Mr. E. C. 

 Andrews, in company with one of us (H.). He has published a report 

 on the section in detail and the reef as a whole (Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 

 XXVII., 1902, pp. 146-185). (a) In his opinion the aradual subsidence 



(a) The foraminifera collected on this trip were catalogued by Messrs. Goddard 

 and Jensen (Proc. Linn. Soc, xxxii., 1907, pp. 290-300). Under the title of 

 ' A Dav on the Great Barrier Reef," a collecting experience on Green Island 

 is described (Hedley.— The Nautilus. XV., 1902, pp. 97-100). 



