12 PROFP]SSOR W. J. SOfJ.AS. 



solidated deposits He beneath it. It varies considerably in character, but always 

 consists for the most part of fragmental coral material, together with foraminifera, 

 remains of calcareous algoe and other organic remains of no great size, such as 

 molluscan shells or spines of echinoderms. On the reef flat itself calcareous algfe 

 contribute largely to its bulk, and by their growth may have had much to do with 

 its consolidation. On the glacis it was sometimes found to consist almost entirely of 

 foraminifera, which had been cemented together by the deposition of carbonate of lime 

 from solution. In Darwin's diagram the glacis is not distinguished from the flat, and 

 "alow projecting ledge of brecciated coral-rock, washed by the waves at high water," 

 is introduced (D of fig. 4) as a general feature. This, I think, may correspond to 

 certain pinnacles, ridges, or clifls which rise upwards in certain places from the 

 glacis of our atoll, and of which we shall have more to say presently. 



The glacis is succeeded on the landward side by a steep ridge, usually formed of 

 loose fragments of corals, but sometimes of large water-worn pebbles, which have 

 been piled up by the waves during storms of unusual violence. This is the slope 

 marked E in Darwin's diagram ; we usually called it, during our residence on 

 Funafuti, the " hurricane beach," a term which is appropriate enough to its seaward 

 face, but not to the whole ridge, and as the land on the lagoon side also, at 

 least in part, owes its existence to unusual storms, another designation would seem to 

 be needed ; I propose to call it, therefore, the "seaward" or "outer ridge." It rises 

 with a steep slope to the summit, which may be a sharp edge or a flat surface a few 

 yards wide, and then descends at first somewhat steeply and afterwards more gently 

 towards the interior of the island. 



Passing now to the lagoon side of the island we encounter a widely different 

 scene ; corals and coral reefs flourish here and there in luxuriant growth, but build 

 no continuous bank, and we miss the nuUipore rim which forms so definite a 

 boundary to the seaward coast ; on the other hand, resemblances are not wholly 

 wanting, a rocky platform made uj) of consolidated coral debris and other calcareous 

 material fringes a great part of the shore and reminds us of the seaward glacis, 

 though its slope is far more gentle ; in one instance, where it was uncovered for 

 80 yards, the tide being nearly low, the rise was found by careful levelling to be 

 1 foot in 240. Sometimes it ends in low cliifs, 3 or 4 feet in height, exposing the 

 hard stratified rock in alternating beds of pebbles, sand-stone, and coral debris ; 

 sometimes it passes out of sight beneath a wide sweejs of fbraminiferal sand. 



Sand, or sand mingled with fragments of corals, rises from high water to form a 

 broader or narrower strip of land which descends on the other side towards the 

 outer ridge. This has been driven up by wind and wave during times of storm, and 

 thus is also a " hurricane beach" ; it may be distinguished as the "lagoon mound." 

 Its slopes on either side are insignificant as a rule compared to those of the outer 

 ridge, and it usually consists of much finer grained material, frequently, as already 

 mentioned, of sand, more rarely of rounded pebbles or large fragments of corals. 



