AGASSIZ: FIJI ISLANDS AND CORAL REEFS. 29 
denudation aud erosion somewhat more advanced than that existing on 
the eastern half of the south shore of Kandavu. 
We cannot fail to notice also the greater width of the shore platform 
wherever the coast has a northerly trend, as, for instance, west of Tomba 
ni Richmondi on the north coast, and north of the John Wesley Bluffs, 
where the platform is edged by the Malatta Reefs and studded with 
heads and patches. On the northern coast, however, the fringing reefs 
are narrow, while on the south coast of Kandavu (Plate 10) they take 
their greatest development, exposed to the full sway of the southeast 
trades. A glance at Plate 11 cannot fail to show the relatively great 
width of the eastern belt of the encircling reef, as compared with that 
of the western side of the Great Astrolabe Lagoon.’ In a smaller lagoon 
like North Astrolabe Reef, where the breakers pour over the eastern 
face, and water flows constantly over the western edge, the difference 
in the width of the reef on the two sides is not so marked. 
While undoubtedly the width of a reef depends in great measure on 
the nature of the platform upon which it grows, yet I do not see the 
force of Lendenfeld’s statement,” that while “lateral growth of corals no 
doubt takes place, it is not the actual cause of the formation of the 
great coral reefs.” There certainly is nothing to prevent the swarms of 
embryos which float at certain times in the vicinity of a coral reef from 
attaching themselves and growing upon any surface within reach having 
the proper depth on both sides of any growing reef. Undoubtedly the 
extension within the lagoon, both in barrier reefs and atolls, of the coral 
heads is due to such a cause, and the wider the reef the closer do the 
heads come together as we pass upon the reef flat from the inner edge of 
the reef towards the outer margin. In an account of a discussion on 
coral reefs® by Sollas, Hickson, Rothpletz, and others, Stebbing stated 
that young corals might start on either rising or subsidence, but only 
subsidence is favorable. That, it seems to me, depends entirely on the 
depth at which they start; they may have 120 feet, and build up a reef 
of that thickness, which is fully as thick as most reefs we know anything 
about. 
‘ 
1 T cannot agree with Gardiner in his statement that the windward reefs of Fiji 
are of about the same breadth. (Joc. cit., p. 492.) Compare the windward reefs of 
Mbengha, of the Great Astrolabe Reefs, and of the east coast of Viti Levu with the 
windward reefs of Wakaya, of Nairai, of Totoya, of the Budd Reef, of Kanathea, 
of the Exploring Isles, of the Argo Reefs, of Lakemba, of Aiwa, of Mothe, and of 
Ongea; the latter are certainly as a rule much narrower than the former. 
2 Nature, Vol. XLII. p. 31. 
3 Nature, October 12, 1893, p. 574 
