136 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



viewed from the forecastle of the wreck (about thirty feet above the water) 

 that rose even to sublimity. The unbroken roar of the surf, with its regular 

 pulsation of thunder, as each succeeding swell first fell on the outer edge of the 

 reef, was almost deafening, yet so deep-toned as not to interfere with the slight- 

 est nearer and sharper sound, or oblige us to raise our voices in the least. 

 Both the sound and the sight were such as to impress the mind of the spectator 

 with the consciousness of standing in the presence of an overwhelming majesty 

 and power, while his senses were delighted by the contrast of beautiful colors 

 afforded by the deep blue of the ocean, the dazzling white of the surf, and the 

 bright green of the shoal water on the reef. 



" The reef, when closely examined, appeared to consist of a sandy floor, on 

 which were thickly clustered clumps of coral, scattered closely but irregularly 

 about it. The corals appeared principally rounded masses of astrsea and rnaean- 

 drina, covered with their green-colored animals in a state of expansion ; there 

 were, however, many finger-shaped madrepores of beautiful purple colors, and 

 leaf-like expansions of explanaria and other branching corals. These were now 

 generally covered with from one to four feet of water, but some masses were 

 level with its surface. Tbe whole was checkered with spaces of white sand, 

 had a bright grass-green hue when viewed from a distance, and, when looking 

 down on it from the poop of the wreck, might have been likened to a great 

 submarine cabbage garden." 1 



Very little can be added to the sketch of the Barrier Reef given by 

 Jukes in Chapter XIII. of the Voyage of the " Fly," beginning at Sandy 

 Cape and extending northward into Torres Strait (pp. 318 to 332), and 

 including an account of the detached reefs off the Great Barrier Reef. 

 Jukes gives a detailed description of Raine Island, which has been 

 reprinted by Kent, 2 and comes to the conclusion that in Torres Strait 

 there is a band of islands to the westward of the coral reef, which, 

 with the exception of the narrow fringing reefs round the islands, are 

 composed of rocks similar to those of the east coast of Australia, 

 extending across to New Guinea, while these rocks are not found upon 

 the islands to the east of the reefs. 



While it is undoubtedly true, as mentioned by Kent, that Jukes consid- 

 ered Darwin's hypothesis as " perfectly satisfactory to my [bis] mind," 8 

 yet I cannot help analyzing Jukes's summary to show how correctly be 

 had analyzed the main features of the Great Barrier Reef, and of its 

 relations to the mainland and intervening islands, and was led to what 

 seem to me erroneous conclusions, from tbe inferences he drew from the 



i Voyage of the "Fly," Vol. T. p. 121. 

 2 Great Barrier Reef, p. 118. 



Voyage of tlie " Fly," Vol. I. p. 347. 



