ANDREWS: LIMESTONES OF THE FIJI ISLANDS. ih 
(c) Fiji “soapstone” with interstratified coral reef and coral detritus, 
as well as one bed of coarse well-rolled pebbles of volcanic rocks. This 
formation is at least three hundred feet thick, and its base is not visible. 
It exhibits in places, as at Suva, a dip of about 10°. 
As you have ample material for a detailed description of this remarkable 
tufaceous marine mudstone, I will make only the few following remarks 
about it: (1) That on certain horizons in Suva at over a hundred feet 
above sea-level I noticed thin interstratified bands, almost wholly formed 
of angular crystals of augite and plagioclase and of lapilli of decomposed 
basic lavas, from the size of a hazel-nut to that of a walnut. There 
appeared to me to be every gradation in this soapstone from a true sub- 
marine tuff to a slightly tufaceous foraminiferal rock, and from the latter 
rock into a tufaceous detrital coralline limestone. 
In one spot at Walu Bay a small coral reef is interstratified with the 
soapstone, as already mentioned in your paper.’ Professor Sollas has 
referred to this as indicating that some, at all.events, of the soapstone was 
laid down in shallow water, and is not, as Mr. G. B. Brady maintained, 
of rather deep-water origin. The coarse conglomerate formed of volcanic 
pebbles at the base of the coral rock at Walu Bay confirms this view. I 
observed a large clam-shell (Zridacna) at the rifle butts at Walu Bay 
Quarry, and was shown large teeth of Carcharodon from this quarry by 
Sir Henry Barclay. Mr. Andrews has forwarded you a similar Car- 
charodon tooth. The evidence of these fossil sharks’ teeth alone would 
prove the formation to be at least as old as Pliocene, while the occur- 
rence of 7ridacna shows that it is referable to the later rather than to 
the earlier Tertiaries. 
4, Raised limestones. These are formed, according to Mr. Andrews’ 
observations, only to a very limited extent of coral zz situ, such as would 
have formed a true coral reef. True coral reef limestone was usually 
found forming a capping about one hundred feet in thickness at the top 
of the raised limestone. Such is the case in several places at Mango, and 
also at Tuvutha, Thithia, and Kambara, ete. 
Much of this limestone has been elevated from 800 feet to 1050 feet 
(Vatu Vara) above the sea. The base is usually not seen along the 
seaward faces of the islands, except in the case of Mba Vatu and 
Tuvutha and Mango. At Mango there is a good section a short dis- 
tance inland, showing the limestone resting on a foundation of marine 
calcareous rock with abundant fragments of decomposed basic or ande- 
1 American Jour. Sci., Vol. V., February, 1898. “ The Islands and Coral Reefs 
of the Fiji Group.” By Alexander Agassiz. 
