REPORT ON MATERIALS FROM THE BORINGS AT FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 329 



have been very abundant judging from the extent of their tunnellings in corals, shells, 

 and other organisms. Their spicular skeletons have now entirely disappeared, and 

 their tunnels are for the most part infilled with consolidated calcareous sediment, 

 so that they have been preserved even after the corals and other structures through 

 which they penetrated have been dissolved away. 



Calcisponges are only represented by a few detached three and four-rayed 

 spicules v;hich are occasionally met with in the cores and loose materials from 

 the upper part of the borings. An exceptional one was also noticed nearly at the 

 bottom of the Main Boring. 



In the recent fauna of Funafuti Cliona and allied boring sponges are common in 

 corals ; other siliceous and some recent calcisponges have been described by 



Mr. R. KiRKPATRICK* and T. WniTELEGGE.t 



ECHINODERMATA. 



The only complete examples of this group met with in the borings are three or 

 four small forms of Cidaris from the upper portion of the Main and First Borings. 

 Detached spines of echinids are, however, present throughout all the borings, and in 

 many cores so abundant as appreciably to contribute to the mass of the rock ; the 

 detached plates of the test are less noticeable. The spines are, as a rule, well 

 preserved ; they often retain a purplish colour, and in many instances they are of 

 large size. Detached Holothurian plates were only observed near the top of the 

 Main Boring. 



Annelida. 



The tubes of Serpula are common in all the borings ; SiMrorhis is likewise frequent, 

 attached to the surfaces of corals, but it was not noticed below 150 feet. 



Crustacea. 



The tests of Ostracoda belonging to the genus BaircUa, and fragmentary claws of 

 small crabs, are occasionally met with in unconsolidated material from the Second (D) 

 and the Lagoon Borings and also in the Main Boring to the depth of 370 feet. 



POLYZOA. 



Both Cyclostomata and Cheilostomata are present in the different borings, either 

 growing on the surface of corals or detached and fragmentary in loose materials. The 

 commoner forms belong to Crisia, Diastopora, Hornera, Porina, and Crihrilina. 



* 'Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.,' ser. 7, vol. 6, 1900, pp. 346-360. 

 t Mem. Ill, Austral. Mus., Sydney, 1897, p. 323. 



2 U 



