250 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



been the first to feel the effect of the inroads of the sea upon the proto- 

 Bermudian land, and have been abraded to a greater depth. We find 

 on their slopes as much as four to eight fathoms as. a general depth ; the 

 channels between the ledges are in most cases overgrown with coral and 

 Algae. Outside of the six or seven fathoms at which they still flourish, 

 Gorgonians and Algae extend on the broken ground down to a depth of 

 seventeen to twenty fathoms, with here and there an irregular sandy 

 patch between the ledges. In the channels between Long Bar and Little 

 Bar and the Ledge Flats, which have a general depth of six to eight fath- 

 oms, corals and Gorgonians grow in patches which are separated by coarse 

 bank sand. The same slope similarly overgrown extends to the Chub 

 Gut, and from the Western Blue Cut it becomes narrower towards the 

 Southern Ledge Flats. 



On crossing the Ledge Flats opposite the southern end of Long Bar, one 

 meets the same ledges, but more worn and covered by a larger number 

 of massive corals and Gorgonians. In the channel between the South- 

 west Ledge Flats and Long Bar, which is itself made up of patches similar 

 to those of the outer edge of the Southwest Ledge Flats, the heads and 

 patches do not come so near the surface, they form patches of massive 

 corals, Gorgonians, and Corallines, or Alga? separated by areas of clear, 

 coarse bank sand bottom. Such is the character of the outer rim of the 

 reef, wherever we examined it, to the westward of Hogfish Cut, beyond 

 Chaddock Bar, outside of Chub Cut, to the west of the Blue Cuts, out- 

 side of North Rock Flats, and to the south of Mills Breaker and off the 

 outer reef of the south shore. The ledge patches and coral heads increase 

 rapidly in height and number as we approach the outer edge of the flats 

 and Gorgonians, Corallines, and massive corals become more abundant 

 also in the spaces between the patches. The bulk of the corals and 

 Gorgonians do not seem to grow beyond ten to twelve fathoms ; beyond 

 that depth Gorgonians, Algae, and Corallines preponderate, and cover 

 the bottom. 



Off High Point extend the Bream and Kitchen Flat Ledges. They 

 are like all the other ledges of oeolian rock, with more or less vertical 

 honeycombed sides. On Chaddock Ledge there is a depth of two to five 

 fathoms. It is, like Long and Little Bars, made up of ledges in some- 

 what deeper water. It is continuous with the flat ledges to the west of 

 Hog Fish Cut, and not separated from them by a channel. On Chaddock 

 Bar there is a fine growth of Gorgonians, of Corals, of Corallines, and of 

 Algte, which stop in from six to seven fathoms, where we pass into the 

 broken ground described above. The bottom of the channel of Hogfish 



