APPENDIX. 



NOTES ON THE RECENT LITERATURE OF CORAL 



REEFS. 



W. J. L. Wharton. " Coral Formations." Nature, Feb. 23, 1888. 



The author cites a number of submerged atoll-like banks in 

 the China Sea, depressed to def)ths of 30-60 fathoms, on the 

 rims of which the corals are still in active growth. Of such 

 are the Tizard Bank (with a length of 32 nautical miles, and 

 a depth of water over the rim of 4-10 fathoms, and in the cen- 

 tre of 30-47 fathoms), tiie Prince Consort Shoal, and the 

 great Macclesfield Bank, the last, 70 miles in length, and 

 covered, in its deepest part, with sixty fathoms of water. These 

 atje given as evidences of banks that are being built up through 

 COTal-growth, and which are ultimately supposed to reach the 

 surface. But the author gives no evidence to show that these 

 bants are not in reality banks of subsidence, drowned atolls, 

 similar to what Mr. Darwin considered the Chagos Banks to 

 be. The fact that corals are still growing on the rim in the 

 one case and not in the other, does not affect the question. 



Capt. Wharton disputes Mr. Murray's conclusion that the 

 great depth of atoll lagoons can be formed through simple 

 aqueous solution, and observes: "but the fact that for large 

 areas it [the surface of the reef] remains awash, and must 

 have so remained for ages, seems to me to point to the supposi- 

 tion that the removal of matter is too insignificant to account 

 for the formation of deep lagoon channels in this manner, 

 though doubtless it may explain the shallow pools and creeks 

 found in all fringing reefs." 



J. Hurray I " Coral Formations." Nature, Mch. 1, 1888. 



A purely tlieorctical answer to the objections contained in 



