Notices of Memoirs— Prof. Sollas— Structure of a Coral Reef. 27 



occurrence of two slight earthquakes, the more severe occurring iu 

 October, 1895 ; this was followed by heavy falls of rock from 

 the cliffs. 



II. — Structure of a Coral Eeef. — Eeport of the Committee, con- 

 sisting of Professor T. G. Bonney (Chairman), Professor W. J. 

 SoLLAs (Secretary), Sir Archibald Geikie, Professors J. W. Judd, 

 C. Lapworth, a. C. Haddon, Boyd Dawkins, G. H. Darwin, 

 S. J. HiCKSON, and Anderson Stuart, Admiral Sir W. J. L, 

 Wharton, Dr. H. Hicks, Sir J. Murray, Drs. W. T. Blanfokd, 

 C. Le Neve Foster, and H. B. Guppy, Messrs. F. Darwin, 

 H. 0. Forbes, G. C. Bourne, and J. W. Gregory, Sir A.^ E. 

 BiNNiE, and Mr. J. C. Hawkshaw, appointed to consider a project 

 for investigating a Coral Eeef by boring and sounding. 



THE boring into the coral reef at Funa Futi, under the super- 

 intendence of Professor Edgeworth David, was carried down to 

 a depth of 643 feet. After he had quitted the island to return to 

 Sydney the work was continued until, owing to a breakdown of the 

 apparatus, it finally ceased at a depth just short of 700 feet. The 

 cores obtained during the work have been forwarded to England, 

 and are now being worked out under the supervision of Professor 

 Judd in the laboratory of the Eoyal College of Science at South 

 Kensington. A brief summary of the results down to 643 feet was 

 presented to the Eoyal Society on November 25, 1897, and will be 

 found in their " Proceedings." According to the survey of Funa 

 Futi and the neighbouring seas made by Captain Field, of H.M.S. 

 " Penguin," it appears that the shape of the former is that of a cone 

 VFith a rudely elliptical base rising with a gradual slope from the 

 ocean floor at a depth of about 2,000 fathoms, and forming a kind of 

 mural escarpment for the last 750 feet (approximate). When the 

 whole party had returned to Sydney, Professors David and Stuart, 

 after discussing the question of renewing the attempt to pierce the 

 reef, the bottom of which, from the change of slope mentioned above, 

 they thought must lie within 800 feet of the surface, prevailed on the 

 authorities of the Department of Mines, Sydney, to lend plant and 

 workmen in order to continue the old borehole, and, if possible, to 

 put down another one in a shallow part of the lagoon. Application 

 was made to the Admiralty by the Eoyal Society, and permission 

 was given for the members of the expedition and the plant to be 

 conveyed from Suva to Funa Futi and back by H.M.S. " Porpoise." 

 The expedition has been at work during the summer, and intelligence 

 of the result will doubtless have reached England during the 

 autumn. Until this arrives, and the study of the materials already 

 in this country has been completed, it would be premature to express 

 any opinion of the theoretical bearing of the results obtained by the 

 very successful operation undertaken in 1897. 



