1 8/4.] 'CORAL REEFS,' SECOND EDITION. 183 



cellent. There is nothing about M. Wagner, as I expected 

 to find. I suppose that you have seen Moseley's last book, 

 which contains some good observations on dispersion. 



I am glad that your book will appear in English, for then I 

 can read it with ease. Pray believe me, 



Yours very sincerely, 



CHARLES DARWIN. 



[The most recent criticism on the Coral-reef theory is by 

 Mr. Murray, one of the staff of the Challenger, who read a 

 paper before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, April 5, 1880.* 

 The chief point brought forward is the possibility of the 

 building up of submarine mountains, which may serve as 

 foundations for coral reefs. Mr. Murray also seeks to prove 

 that "the chief features of coral reefs and islands can be 

 accounted for without calling in the aid of great and general 

 subsidence." The following letter refers to this subject :] 



C. Darwin to A. Agassiz. 



Down, May 5, 1881. 



. . . You will have seen Mr. Murray's views on the forma- 

 tion of atolls and barrier reefs. Before publishing my book, I 

 thought long over the same view, but only as far as ordinary 

 marine organisms are concerned, for at that time little was 

 known of the multitude of minute oceanic organisms. I 

 rejected this view, as from the few dredgings made in the 

 Beagle, in the south temperate regions, I concluded that shells, 

 the smaller corals, &c., decayed, and were dissolved, when not 

 protected by the deposition of sediment, and sediment could 

 not accumulate in the open ocean. Certainly, shells, &c. 

 were in several cases completely rotten, and crumbled into 

 mud between my fingers ; but you will know well whether 



* An abstract is published in vol. x. of the ' Proceedings,' p. 505, and 

 in * Nature,' August 12, 1880. 



