46 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
beaches, and covered with cocoanut trees and shrubs (Plate 110). The 
islands are in the northeast angle of a nearly elliptical lagoon (Plate 18), 
surrounded by a reef flat varying from a quarter of a mile to more than 
1mMie 
a a 
a mile in width. The outer reef is about nine miles in circumference. 
There is an entrance for ships into the lagoon in the western reef flats. 
The depth of the central part of the lagoon is from 22 to 23 fathoms, 
and the bottom is mainly coralline and coral sand, with broken shells. 
The inner edge of the reef flat is flanked by a broad belt of coral patches, 
which extend upon the flat itself, with here and there an isolated patch 
in six or seven fathoms of water. + 
Wailangilala was selected, after consultation with inhabitants of the 
Fijis well acquainted with the group, as affording an isolated atoll with 
a steep submarine slope, and an island on the outer rim on which to 
