GENERAL REPORT ON THE MATERIALS SENT FRO]\I FUNAFUTI. 175 



It fortunately happened that the large collections made at Christmas Island, in the 

 Indian Ocean, by Dr. C. W. Andrews, for Sir John Muriiay, were availal^le for 

 cora2)arison, and among these the Tertiary limestones are well represented.'" In the 

 same way, we are indebted to Professor Alexander Agassiz for supplying us with 

 a series of specimens collected by himself, or under his direction, by Mr. E. C. Andrews, 

 of Sydney,t and these specimens, derived like those of Christmas Island, in the Indian 

 Ocean, from upraised reefs in different parts of the Pacific, include a number of 

 examples of the old Tertiary-limestone platforms on which modern coral reefs have, in 

 some cases, been built up. 



While the study of the Funafuti collections has been in progress, I have been able, 

 through the liberality of Sir John Murray and Professor Agassiz, as well as of 

 Professor David, in supplying me with specimens, to make constant comparisons of 

 the Funafuti rocks with those of the upraised reefs of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 

 My assistants, Dr. E. W. Skeats and Mr. R. L. Sherlock, have prejDared memoirs 

 on the chemical and microscopical character, and on the organisms of the rocks of 

 these upraised coral islands, and Professor Agassiz has been good enough to publish 

 these memoirs in the same journal as that in which the account of his own researches 

 will appear. 



It was. found by Dr. Skeats and Mr. Sherlock, and also by Mr. F. Chapman, who 

 assisted them in the palseontological portion of their work, that, even in very small 

 fragments of rock, the characteristic Tertiary organisms, such as the various species of 

 Orhitoides, could be detected in their microscopic sections. Such Tertiary organisms 

 were found in limestones from Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, and also in 

 limestones from Ma,ngo and Namuka, in the Fiji group of the Pacific Ocean. 



But although nearly 400 feet of core from the bottom of the Funafuti core were 

 very carefully scrutinised by both Mr, F. Chapman and Dr. Hinde for the purpose, 

 not a trace of these Tertiary organisms could be detected. On the contrary, as the 

 reports show, the same recent forms of foraminifera, corals and other organisms occur 

 from the top to the bottom of the series of cores. On this point the evidence appears 

 to be conclusive, and we are justified in stating that no basis of old Tertiary limestone 

 was reached in the deep boring at Funafuti. 



In comparing the results obtained by the study of upraised coral reefs, and in 

 a vertical bore-hole, it should be borne in mind that the former can never be 

 expected to supply us with such perfectly unequivocal evidence as the latter- 

 Upraised coral reef's nearly always show indications of having been subjected to 

 various movements, sometimes upwards, at other times downwards, with perhaps 

 intervals of rest between. At any period of their long and complicated history, 

 masses of fringing reef may accumulate around them, and seeing how rapidly 



* 'Geographical Journal,' vol. 13 (1899), p. 17. "A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean)," 

 published by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1900. 



t 'Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.,' vol. 33 (1899), pp. 1-167 ; ibid., vol. 38 (1900), pp. 1-50, 



