and the Evidence of the Funafuti Borings. 87 



for the predominant factor, the activity of calcareous algae, 

 foraminifera, corals, etc., has been completely overlooked. 



The evidence of organisms from the main Funafuti bore. — 

 The careful, precise, and monumental work of Dr. Hinde on 

 the materials from the borings at Funafuti provides a wealth 

 of information on the organisms which built up that atoll. 

 From Ids report, from Prof. Judd's general report on the 

 materials, and from a personal communication from Mr. F. 

 Chapman, now paleontologist to the National Museum, Mel- 

 bourne, who sliced all the cores, and examined the foramini- 

 fera, the writer selects the following statements as bearing on 

 the question of the origin of the atoll. 



Dr. Hinde reported that in the upper 180 ft. of the boring, 

 whose coral reef origin no one has questioned, about one-fifth 

 of the organisms consisted of corals, the remainder consisting 

 of calcareous algae, foraminifera, and other organisms.* In 

 the lower third of the boring from 750 ft. to the bottom at 11 14 

 feet the corals form a larger proportion of the whole rock, but, 

 even here, are considerably exceeded by the f oraminiferal and 

 fragmentary rocks. Between 600 ft. and 718 ft. coral casts 

 are more numerous and Halimeda is abundant. He further 

 stated that 27 genera of corals were recognized in the main 

 boring, all of which belong to well-known reef-building forms, 

 most of which still exist on the reef, and in the lagoon at Funa- 

 futi 35 genera of foraminifera are recognized in the main bor- 

 ing, of which only 7 are of importance as rock-formers, and 

 they are still flourishing on the present reef or in the lagoon. 



Prof. Juddf states that the corals which occur are sometimes 

 upright and in the position of growth, but very frequently 

 broken and fragmentary, this being true of all parts of the 

 core from the top to the bottom. So far as could be made out 

 the corals are as often " in situ " in the lower as they were in 

 the upper parts of the core. 



Mr. Chapman,;): whose opinion is of great weight, as he did 

 all the slicing of the cores, as well as from his position as an 

 expert in the study of foraminifera, states that " throughout 

 the bore the corals were found in the position of growth. 

 Pocillopora was found in the boring down to 750 feet. In the 

 living state at Funafuti it occurs from 30-180 ft. 



Goeloria occurs in the bore from 310-1114 ft. 6 in., and is 

 found living at 4S ft. 



Alveolina boscli was found in the bore down to a depth of 

 700 ft. In soundings it is found commonly in shallow water 

 down to 30 fathoms, below which it is rare. 



The delicate megalospheric form of Orbitolites complanata 

 in its reproductive stage was found in the lowest cores of the 

 bore in the condition in which it lives in the shallow waters of 



* Funafuti Eeport, pp. 333-334. f Op. cit., p. 173. 



X Personal communication. 



