REPORT ON MATERIALS FROM THE BORINGS AT FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 331 



coral dredged up from the western slope of Funafuti between 40 and 80 fathoms, and 

 he has carefully described and figured it. 



Lamellibranchiata. 



Representatives of this group are present in all the borings, but tliey are not 

 common excej)t as casts in the Main Boring below 740 feet. Porites and other corals 

 in the lower part of the boring are frequently perforated by Lithodomus. 



Gastropoda, 



Small Gastropods are fairly common in loose materials from the upper part of the 

 Main, and from the other borings. Amongst them, the following genera have been 

 recognised : Phasianella, Cydostrema, Leptothyris (opercula only), Rissoa, Rissoina, 

 Diala, Ccecitm, Cerithhtm, Triforis, Marginella, Columbella, Atlanta and Ringicula. 

 These forms are all present in the recent fauna of Funafuti. Larger gastropods 

 occur frequently in the Main Boring below 780 feet, but their shells have invariably 

 been dissolved and only casts or moulds remain, 



ASCIDIANS. 



Detached microscopic stellate spicules, about 0*04 millim. in diameter, are extremely 

 abundant in the fine calcareous sediment of the various borings ; they are closely 

 similar to those of the tests of the Ascidian genus LeptocUnum, and probably result 

 from their disintegration, 



CoPROLiTic Pellets. 



Small ovoid pellets, about 1 millim. in length by 0'4 millim, in thickness, are very 

 coiximon in the unconsolidated material from the different borings. Beyond that they 

 are evidently coprolitic in character, nothing further is known of their origin. 



Bone or Spine of Fish. 

 A fragment of bone or spine, about 20 millims. in length, was met with in the 

 centre of a core of compact dolomite, from the depth of 1060 feet in the Main Boring. 

 It appears to belong to a fish. This is the only portion of a vertebrate noticed in the 

 borings. 



Calcareous Alg^. 



corallina. 



A few detached segments of corallines are present in unconsolidated material from 

 the upper part of the Main and from the Second Borings. 



Genus Halimeda, Lamx. 



Detached joints of this genus are present in all the borings ; in some portions, as for 

 example in the Lagoon Boring, for 60 feet below the lagoon floor, they form the 



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