AGASSIZ : BERMUDAS. 233 



only from five to six fathoms. The great sound known as Murray An- 

 chorage, to the northeast of Bailey Bay Flats, is somewhat deeper, and 

 varies from seven to nine fathoms. To" the north and northwest of 

 Murray Anchorage the water is still deeper, varying from seven to ten 

 fathoms, with a deeper bight to the northeast of Three Hill Shoals, where 

 the depth is twelve fathoms close to a spur of the East Ledge Flats. 

 These depths all run close to the five fathom line, which may be called 

 the inner edge of the outer fiats or ledges extending from East Ledge to 

 the Ledge Flats north of Blue Cut. On these the depths vary from 

 one and a half to four fathoms, with occasional deep holes, with a 

 white sandy bottom, or islets separated from the edges of the Ledge 

 Flats or inlets running in from the sounds, and patches surrounded by 

 from seven to ten fathoms. To the westward of Three Hill Shoal the 

 clear bottom averages from seven to eight fathoms. In the sound be- 

 tween Brackish Pond Flats and Elies Flats the depth varies from six 

 to ten fathoms, with occasionally a five fathom sounding between the 

 numerous isolated patches of ledges inside of the five fathom line. The 

 extensive sound to the west of Wreck Hill, extending to the Western 

 Ledge Flats and southwest of Elies Flats, varies from seven to eleven 

 fathoms (Plate II.). 



In St. George Harbor the bottom is hard in five fathoms. The dredge 

 brought up many specimens of Toxopneustes and Echinometra. We 

 found only a few patches of Gorgonians and of massive corals in the 

 harbor itself, while in Castle Harbor, which has a freer communica- 

 tion with the sea, the patches of corals on the ledges are quite nu- 

 merous, having much the same characteristics as those of the Ledge 

 Flats. 



In Harrington Sound the growth of Gorgonians and massive corals is 

 also less prominent than in Castle Harbor, and the development of Gor- 

 gonians, Alga?, corals, and corallines in these sounds, as well as in the 

 sounds at the western end of the islands (Hamilton Harbor, Port Royal 

 Bay, and Great Sound), seems clearly to indicate that as fast as they 

 became connected with the outer sounds and in proportion to the acces- 

 sibility of the sea, corals have gradually found their way into these 

 sounds, and have also developed in proportion to it, being less abundant 

 in sounds indifferently connected with the open sea. All the conditions 

 of the coral growth indicate a comparatively recent inroad of the sea, 

 first into Castle Harbor, next into St. George Harbor, and finally into 

 Harrington Sound. The corals have found their way into the sounds 

 much as the corals forming the veneer of the outer reefs have found 



