Ch. VI. DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS. 177 



Saloman Archipelago, I have no information; but at New 

 Ireland, which forms the northern point of the latter chain, 

 both Labillardiere and Lesson have described large beds of 

 an apparently very modern madreporitic rock, with the form 

 of the corals little altered. The latter author 1 states that this 

 formation composes a newer line of coast, modelled round 

 an ancient one. There only remains to be described in the 

 Pacific, that curved line of fringed islands, of which the 

 Marianas form the main part. Of these Guam, Eota, Tinian, 

 Saypan, and some islets farther north, are described by Quoy 

 and Gaimard, 2 and Chamisso, 3 as chiefly composed of madre- 

 poritic limestone, which attains a considerable elevation, and 

 is in several cases worn into successively rising cliffs : the two 

 former naturalists seem to have compared the corals and shells 

 with the existing ones, and state that they are of recent species. 

 Peel Island, one of the Bonin or Arzobispo group, between 

 the Marianas and Japan, has fringing-reefs ; and it has clearly 

 been upraised to a height of at least 50 feet, as shown by the 

 ridges of corals and shells extending uniformly at this level. 4 

 Fais, which lies in the prolonged line of the Marianas, 

 between this group and the Pell ews, is fringed by reefs; it 

 is 90 feet high, and consists entirely of madreporitic rock. 5 



In the East Indian Archipelago, many authors have re- 

 corded proofs of recent elevation. M. Lesson 6 states that 

 near Port Dory, on the north coast of New Guinea, the shores 

 are flanked, to the height of 150 feet, by madreporitic strata 

 of a modern date. He mentions similar formations at Waigiou, 

 Amboina, Bourou, Ceram, Sonda, and Timor : at this latter place, 

 MM. Quoy and Gaimard 7 have likewise described the primi- 



1 Voyage de la Coquille, Part. Zoolog. 



2 Freycinet's Voyage autourdu Monde. See also the Hydrographical 

 Memoir, p. 215. 3 Kotzebue's First Voyage. 



4 P. W. Graves, Journal of Geological Soc. 1855, p. 532. 



5 Lutke's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 304. 



6 Partie Zoolog. Voyage de la Coquille. 



7 Ann. des Seien. Nat., torn. vi. p. 281. 



N 



