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[0CT03ER 12, 1893 



found himself in agreement with the opener of the debate. In 

 his opinion it seemed to be quite possible that some barrier reefs 

 and atolls had been formed during subsidence of the land but 

 in the majority of eases there was very good evidence of recent 

 elevation, and the Darwinian hypothesis would not hold good. 

 Contrary to the statements that are usually made, the outer edge 

 of the reef is seldom, if ever, precipitous, and the evidence tends 

 to show that in most cases the reefs are growing seawards on the 

 talus of their own dlbris. There is a great difference of opinion 

 amongst geologists as to the origin of the Dolomites, and there 

 is no evidence of any fossil coral reef more than a few hundred 

 feet in thickness. In conclusion Dr. Ilickson urged upon the 

 combined Sections the importance of initiating some investi- 

 gations upon the causes regulating the growth and destruction 

 of living coral reefs. 



Dr. Rothpletz (Munich) criticised the diagrams and ex- 

 planation given by Prof. Sollas of the supposed coral reefs of 

 the Dolomites. He did not consider them to be coral reefs. 



Mr. Gilbert Bourne confined himself to a few criticisms of 

 Prof. Sollas. It had been stated that reef-building corals 

 flourished best where the breakers are heaviest on the edge of 

 the reef. His own experience was that at these joints only a 

 few true corals grow, and that the gardens of coral described by 

 Prof. Sollas were only to be found in quieter spots where the 

 corals were sheltered from the force of the breaker.", but bathed 

 by a gentle and uniform current. Photographs of luxuriant 

 coral -beds bore out this assertion. Nor did he agree with the 

 statement that the rocks of which atolls were composed was 

 formed by masses of coral ilung over the edge of the reef by the 

 waves. Dr. Guppy had shown that the large masses torn off 

 at the edge of the reef tended rather to roll down the seaward 

 face of the reef, and to form a talus slope. It had been said that 

 soundings of lagoons invariably showed a filling-up and shallow- 

 ing of the lagoon. On what evidence did this assertion rest ? 

 Probably no atoll had been so thoroughly surveyed as the one 

 with which the speaker was personally acquainted, Diego 

 Garcia. He had very carefully compared the soundings made 

 by Captain Moresby in 1837 with those made by H.M. S. 

 Rambler in 1885, and found that in every case the soundings 

 were nearly identical, with the exception of a few channels in 

 which, on the whole, the Rambler soundings showed greater 

 depths. After referring to Semper's discovery, in the Pelew 

 Islands, of atolls, barrier reefs, fringing reefs, and recent 

 elevated reefs, all found in the same area, the speaker showed 

 that the information just given by Prof. Rothpletz fully corro- 

 borated the ai^sertions made over and over again by Murray and 

 Agassiz, that the upward growth of submarine banks was largely 

 due, not to coral growth, but to the accumulation of the cal- 

 careous skeletons of mollusca and echinoderms on those banks. 

 Finally, he pointed out that while Prof. Sollas had revived the old 

 theories of a Lemuria and an Atlantis, and had used the exist- 

 ence of the coral islands of the Indian Ocean as evidence of a 

 previously existing continent, he had given no explanation of the 

 fact that the tropical regions of the Atlantic Ocean, across which 

 the old Atlantis was supposed to have stretched, are almost 

 entirely destitute of coral formations. 



Prof. Bonney replied to some of Dr. Hickson's criticisms. 

 He cited Masamarhu as a case of a steep slope. He thought 

 judgment on the Dolomites must be reserved. He asked. Was 

 a growing reef ever found deeper than twenty-five fathoms? for 

 that was a point of primary importance. 



-Sir H. Howorth confined himself to whether coral reefs are 

 now in regions of upheaval or of subsidence. The Pacific 

 islands consist of two regions, the Sandwich Islands, which are 

 an old land surface, and the rest, which have very recently risen 

 from the sea, and so are in an area of elevation, although atolls. 

 This is fatal to Darwin's theory, which depends upon the 

 correlation of reef-building and .subsidence. 



Mr. Slebhing pointed out that as the joung coral animals 

 might .settle down on rising or sinking areas indifferently, so 

 reefs inight be begun on either, but that only those on an area 

 of subsidence would be under favourable conditions for growth. 

 He also stated that it could not be said that all naturalists who 

 had recently lived on coral reefs w ere agreed, as Mr. Saville 

 Kent endorsed Darwin's view. 



Mr. H. O. Forbes stated that in the Keeliijg Islands in the 

 Indian Ocean he had found undoubted evidence of elevation, 

 both between two of the islets, and also in the constitution of 

 Horsburgh Island, the largest of the group. 



Prof. Sollas biiefly replied, and adhered to his origiral 

 contention. 



Section D then took the following, chiefly zoological, papers : 

 — (l) Report on woik carried on at the Zoological Station, 

 Naples, viz. — On the action of coloured light on assimilation, 

 by C. C. Duncan, and on the function and correlation of the 

 pallial organs of Opisthobranchiala, by J. D. F. Gilchrist. (2) 

 Report on woik carried on at the Blohigical Station, Plymouth, 

 viz., on Turbellaria, by F. W. Gamble ; on decapod larvae, 

 by E. J. Allen ; and how fishes find foo.-i, by Gregg Wilson. (3) 

 Report on the produclinn of an index generum et specierum 

 animalium. (4) On seals and whales seen during a voyage 

 to the Antarctic, by W. S. Bruce. (5) On the penguins of the 

 Antarctic, by C. Donald. (6) On the development of the 

 molar teeth of the elephant, wiih remarks on dental series, by 

 Prof. Cleland, who exhiliited a specimen showing the sacular 

 condition. 



On Tuesday the remaining papers were taken, viz. : — (t) On 

 cytological differences in homologous organs, by Prof. G. 

 Gilson, dealt chi< fly with differenC' s in nephridia.. (2) The 

 lateral canal system of fishes, by W. E. Collinge, showing the 

 modification effected by this .'.ystem in the cranial elements and 

 nervous system, and ihe evidence the senory organs afford of 

 the development of the higher sense organs. {3) On the 

 ovipositor of the cockroach, by Prof. Denny. This shows that 

 the ovipositor represents the e'ghth and ninth sterna, whih: the 

 two pairs of gonapophyses are developed in connection with 

 these sterna. (4) On a new butterfly, by Mrs. White. (5] On 

 certain gregarinidas, aird ihe possible connection of allied forms 

 with trssue changes in man, by Dr. C. H. Cattle and Dr. 

 J. Millar. In this important paper the authors described the 

 changes caused in the rabbit's liver by Coccidium ovijorme, and 

 compared them with ihe changes produced in glandular organs 

 by cancer. The authors gave reasons for believing the bodies 

 found in cancer to be parasites allied to CocciJium. (6) The 

 •fim^%o{ Archaopteryx 3XiA of other birds, by Dr. C. II. Hurst. 

 The author regards the two large digits of a bird's wing as 

 IV. and V. (7} The starch of the chlorophyll granule, ami the 

 chemical processes involved in its dissolution and translocation, 

 by Horace T. Brown, F. R. S. The author gave an account of 

 the work done by himself and Dr. Morris on the fDrmation of 

 starch and its dissipation. He showed that cane sugir was the 

 first carbohydrate recognisable in the leaf, and that thestsrch, 

 both in green and colourless parts of the plant, is formed from 

 pre-existing carbohydrates. (8) On nuclear structures in the 

 hymenomycetes, by H. Wazer. The author finds, in contra- 

 diction to Rozcn's results, that during karyokinesis in 

 hymenomycetes an achromatic spindle exists, and the process is 

 nearly similar to what obtains in higher plants. 



COSFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF CORRE- 

 SPONDING SOCIETIES. 

 First Conkerence, September 14. 



nPHE Corresponding Societies' Committee wa« represented 

 by Dr. Garson (in the chair), Mr. Topley, Mr. Symons, 

 and Mr. T. V. Holmes (secretary). 



Dr. Garson, the chairman, gave a hearty welcome to the 

 delegates present. These conferences were begun at Aberdeen, 

 in 1885. At that time only twenly-four delega'es were ap- 

 pointed, while last year there were forty-two. The number of 



t Corresponding Societies had also increased. This was evidence 

 that the attempt to bring to a focus, as it were, the efforts of 

 the various Corresponding Societies had met with considerable 



I success. But there was also evidence that the societies di-i not 

 always sufficiently value their privileges. When circulars were 

 sent from the office of the British Association, the majority of 

 the secretaries of the Corresponding Societies did not fill u|) and 

 return them until they were written to a second time. Again, 

 out of more than sixty societies, only forty-two thought it worth 

 while to send delegates, though it could hardly be a difiicult 

 matter to find members able and willing to serve. It was a 

 very great advantage to the workers in the various local societies 

 to have the titles of their papers printed and published in the 

 Annual Reports of the British Association. Then, the Trans- 

 actions of the various Corresponding Societies were bound and 

 kept for reference in the library of the British Association at 

 Burlington House, while papers read before other local societies 



NO. 1250, VOL. 48] 



