232 Prof. A. Agassiz on the 



our course a number of deep hauls, from 150 fathoms to the 

 surface, with the open net. A large number of hauls were 

 made off Suva which gave us an excellent collection of pelagic 

 forms, the collections of Crustacea and of Acaleplis bemg 

 specially noteworthy. Vix. Mayer will prepare a report on the 

 Acalephs. When practicable we have also made collections 

 on the reef-flats of various islands and atolls *. 



I also brought to Suva a complete diamond-drill boring 

 apparatus and a competent man to superintend the work — ■ 

 Mr, W.Eyers — recommended to usby the Sullivan Machine Co., 

 of Chicago, fro?n whom the apparatus was obtained f. To 

 provide against contingencies, a comparatively small hand- 

 machine was sent, capable of drilling to a depth of from four 

 to five hundred feet. An oil-motor was also provided to 

 expedite the work with increasing depth. 



This machinery had already been shipped when information 

 reached the United States that Professor David, of the Uni- 

 versity of Sydney, had left for the Atoll of Funafuti in charge 

 of an expedition to take up the unfinished work of boring of 

 the party in cliarge of Professor Sollas, sent out by the 

 Council of the Eoyal Society of London. The day before 

 leaving Cambridge for the Pacific, news arrived that Professor 

 David's party had succeeded in reaching a depth of nearly 

 600 feet, the bottom still being in coral. This information 

 seemed to settle the coral question, and all I hoped to accom- 

 plish was merely to confirm the work of Professor David by 

 boring in some other district. Subsequent information re- 

 ceived from Professor David leads me to tliink that the matter 

 is not so simple as was represented by the newspapers. 

 From what we have seen thus far of the Fiji Islands reef I 

 can only conclude that the boring at Funafuti has settled 

 nothing, and that we are still as far as ever from having a 

 general theory of the formation of coral-reefs. In fact, with 

 the present information obtained here 1 should never iiave 

 thought of boring in the atolls of this group, for reasons which 

 will be given jux'sently. 



The track which we followed was so arranged as to include 

 in our first trip one or two of each type of island and of the 

 different types of atolls, barrier- and fringing-reefs in tlie 



* Dr. Wm. McM. Woolworth and A. G. Maver accompanied me as 

 assistants. Dr. Woohvorth and my .son Maximilian have taken a large 

 number of photographs illustrating the physiognomy of the islands and 

 their reefs. A selection from tliese 1 .shall u-e in my final report. 



t I have to thank the Trustees of the Bache Fund of tlie National 

 Academy of Sciences at Washington for an appropriation of §12U0 to- 

 wai'ds defraying a part of the expenses of boring. 



