REPORT ON MATERIALS FROM THE BORINGS AT FUNAFUTI ATOLL. ;il3 



frequently attached to their surfaces. Slender fragmentary branches of >SerUifi)jioru are common, a young 

 example of Hdiopuru ncntlea was noted, and alcyonarian spicules. Foraminifcra numerous, for the most 

 part the same forms as those noted abo^■c. The other organic remains are the same as in the ])receding 

 sample, with the addition of claws of small Crustacea. 



Depth fivni- Floor of Lagoon, 6'2-l4:ifeet ; Distance Bored, S'2 feet ; jShimhen^ of 



Core.'i, L. 6-L. 16. 



Below 62 feet from the Lagoon floor the character of the iirateriaLs from the boring 

 changes greatly, and in the next sample, from the depth of 75 feet, we find, instead 

 of a mass mainly of free, unceniented Halmiecla-^omtti and foraminifera, fragments 

 of whitish or whitish -grey, rough, and porous limestone, consisting of these 

 organisms cemented by calcite into fairly hard rock. At this level the Ifcdimcda is 

 no longer so predominant as in the higher part of the boring and approximately only 

 about one-third of the rock consists of it, while the foraminifera, greatly increased in 

 numbers, but jnostly of the same genera and species, constitute the other two-thirds. 



The same kind of porous rubbly limestone, now reduced in the sample to angular 

 fragments and line powder, continues to the bottom of the boring at 144 feet, but in 

 the lower 50 feet the proportion of corals greatly increases and the rock is mainly 

 composed of them and foraminifera ; the HaJimeda being here reduced to a small 

 percentage. 



The corals belong to Heliopora ccendea, Lobojjhytuni, FociUopoi-a, Seriat02:>ora, 

 Cceloria (rare), Cyi^liastrcp.a, other Astrseans not determinable, Fungia, Madrepora, 

 including M. contecta, Montipora, Porites, Astraiopo7U, and fjioydopo7'a. Perforate 

 corals are the most numerous. As a rule, the coral walls are preserved, and even 

 their minute structures are shown in microscopic sections. The interstices are usually 

 empty, but not infrequently they are filled up solid with crystalline material, and in 

 this case the walls are sometimes decomposed into a soft white powder and partially 

 removed. 



The foraminifera, in the lower 50 feet of the Ijoring, chiefly belong to Polytrema, 

 Amjjhistegi'tta, -awA Hete.i'ostegina; other forms, recognised in microscopic sections of 

 rock fragments are Miliolina, Textidaria, Globigerina, FlunofhuUna, Discorhina, 

 Calcarina, and Gypsiv/j. They are now embedded in fine consolidated sediment. 



Other organisms include : CVionxt borings in corals, alcyonarian spicules, echinid 

 spines and plates, Serpula, Spjuvrbis, spicules of Leptoelinum, Thecidea, polyzoa, 

 small gasti'opods and lamellibranchs, and lastly, branching and encrusting 

 Lithothamnion. 



Details. 



(L. 6) [453, 454]. 75 feet. The sample consists of fragments of limestone chiefly made ujd of 

 foraminifera and Halitiieda-joints lightly cemented together. The Hali/iicda here is in a partially decayed 

 condition and readily breaks down into a whitish powder with minute truncate rods, which are the tubules 

 infilled with secondary calcite. The foraminifera belong to MiliuJina, Orbihliia^, Textularia, Globigerinck 



2 S 



