168 PROFESSOR J. W. JUDD. 



impossible to have obtained the full and important results from the materials 

 collected with so much labour and expense at Funafuti.* 



The collections obtained by Professor Sollas during his stay in Funafuti in 1896 

 were handed to me immediately upon his return, and though the two borings he made 

 only reached to depths of 105 feet and 72 feet respectively, yet their study proved 

 to be a most valuable preparation for the work to be done on the larger collections 

 sent to England in subsequent years. Besides the cores from the two borings — 

 v/hich consisted for the most part of rubbly fragments mingled with disintegrated 

 sand-like material — valuable collections of the surface rocks and of the beach-sands of 

 the islets, with corals and other organisms from different parts of the atoll, were 

 entrusted to me ; and these have afforded a basis of study for the materials which 

 were, later, obtained at considerable depths. Some of the phosjjhatised materials 

 collected on the islands by Professor Sollas ha«^e proved, as will be shown in the 

 sequel, to be of great interest. 



The first collections made by Professor David and Mr. Sweet during their sojourn 

 in Funafuti in 1897 reached me in Marcli, 1898, having been forwarded from Sydney 

 in eleven core-boxes, each 12 feet long, by the s.s. "Orizaba." The cores from the 

 main boring, which, at the time of their despatch, had attained a depth of 698 feet, 

 were in a most satisfactory condition for study, each core was numbered, its position 

 in the bore-hole being indicated by a black line drawn round its loiver end, while its 

 depth from the surface and other particulars were recorded in an accompanying 

 catalogue. Tlie same care in collecting and recording was manifest in all the 

 subsequent consignments. 



In January, 1899, the second portion of the core, tliat obtained by Mr. Finckh in 

 1898, reached the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. It was contained in 

 six core-boxes, which were brought by the s.s. " India," and contained the cores from 

 698 to 987 feet. 



In April, 1899, the tliird and final portion of the core, from 987 to 1114^ feet, 

 reached this country by the s.s. " Britannia," being contained in five core-boxes. The 

 solid cores in the first consignment were numl)ered from 1 to 366, while those in the 

 second and third consignments were numbered from 1a to 709a. 



There were also sent from Sydney the valuable collection of specimens made 

 in a series of dredgings across the lagoon of Funafuti, with tlie materials brought up 

 in the two borings in the lagoon, so successfully put down Ijy Mr. Halligan, the 

 deepest of which reached 245 feet from the surface of the waiter, These borings were 

 made, as already described, t from the deck of H.M.S. " Porpoise," under Commander 

 Sturdee, R.N. ; the materials obtained proved scarcely less important, in the 

 information they afford concerning the constitution of the coral reef, thaii the cores 

 brought up from the main boring. 



* See Section XI. 

 t See Section VllJ 



