I874-J 'CORAL REEFS '-SECOND EDITION. 361 



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. Agasstz. 



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 ma- 

 rine 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 this is 

 in any degree common. I have expressly said that a bank at 

 the proper depth would give rise to an atoll, which could not 

 be distinguished from one formed during subsidence. I can, 



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

 in 'Nature/ August 12, 1880. 

 Co 



