88 /</. W. Skeatx—The Coral-reef P roll, m 



coral reefs. This material could not have tumbled down a 

 talus bank and have been preserved loosely and intact. More- 

 over, it is associated in this lowest core of the boring with other 

 evidence of shallow water conditions. 



Ilalimeda, now living in the lagoon to the depth of about 

 200 ft., was found in the cores at 660 ft., proving a subsidence 

 of nearly 400 feet." 



Prof. Judd also stated that careful search was made to see if 

 deeper water organisms mixed with those building up the 

 reef could be detected in the cores. i 



If any part of the bore represented material fallen from 

 above such an admixture of shallow and deep-water forms 

 must have occurred. Not a trace of deep-water forms was 

 found in the lower or any other parts of the Funafuti bore. Dr. 

 H hide's carefully drawn up lists show that from top to bottom 

 the same organisms occur, sometimes plants, sometimes fora- 

 minifera, sometimes corals predominating, but in the whole 

 depth bored the same genera and species of these various 

 groups of organisms take their part in the building up of the 

 mass. 



Moreover, as Judd states, not a trace of Orbitoides or other 

 Tertiary fossils such as occur and have been recorded, by the 

 writer among others,* at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, 

 and at Mango and Namuka in the Fiji group in the Pacific 

 Ocean, was found from top to bottom of the boring. 



Texiural features of the boring. 



If an} 7 part of the boring had passed through a submarine 

 coral talus, its coarse fragmentary condition and bedded char- 

 acter should have been recognizable. Prof. Juddf reports that 

 " nowhere could a stratification, such as might be expected in a 

 talus formation, be found, but only such irregular accumula- 

 tion of detrital materials as takes place between and around 

 the corals, and these appearances were presented at many 

 points from the top to the bottom of the bore hole, whenever 

 consolidated rock could be examined." 



Dr. Cullis^; in his valuable report draws attention to and 

 figures remarkable stalagmitic coatings to cavities in the lime- 

 stone of the bore, chiefly formed of fibrous calcite, sometimes 

 of alternating layers of calcite and dolomite, and these are 

 found at intervals, not only in the upper p;\rt of the bore in 

 the case of the fibrous calcite, but also from a depth of 815 ft. 

 down to the bottom. This material from its appearance and 

 occurrence as a lining of cavities is strongly indicative of rapidly 

 deposited carbonate under conditions of supersatu ration such 

 as occur under very shallow water conditions or even between 



* Skeats, Bull. Mus. Coinp. Zool., Harvard, xlii, June 1903. 

 + Op. eit. pp. 174-175. % Op. cit. pp! 392-420. 



