4 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
the Tropical Pacific to take up the subject again and thus not duplicate 
now the report on the results of the last “ Albatross ” expedition. 
As Professor David has examined not only the collections made by 
Mr. Andrews, but also his report, I herewith add the greater part of a let- 
ter he was kind enough to write me relating to the collections and report 
of Mr. Andrews. This report, taken in connection with the monograph 
of Christmas Island! (Indian Ocean) undertaken at the instigation of 
Sir John Murray by Mr. Charles W. Andrews, illustrates how com- 
plicated a question the formation of an atoll is, even when we are able to 
follow its stages in the pages of the history of its elevation. And nothing 
shows more distinctly than the sections of Mango, of Tuvutha, and of 
Singatoka, given by Mr. E. C. Andrews, how insignificant is the part 
played by corals in the economy of an atoll.? 
Neweort, RHopE IsLAND, 
August, 1900. 
1 London, 1900. Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum. 
2 Charts of the Fiji Group and islands of the group will be found in “'The 
Islands and Coral Reefs of Fiji.” Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1899, Vol. XXXIIL., 
Plates 1-252. 
