36 HENRY DEANE. 



ming organisms, and those secured at night quite illumined the 

 glass vessel in which they were received." 



Funafuti Coral Boring Expedition. — It is scarcely necessary 

 to give a detailed account of this work. We all know how much 

 has been achieved by Professor David himself, who personally 

 undertook the conduct of last year's expedition. It has been 

 described by the Professor at the meeting of the Australasian 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. The total depth 

 which the borer reached was six hundred and ninety-eight feet. 

 The material passed through appears to fall into three zones : the 

 first reaching down to two hundred feet; here the material seems 

 to be true coral reef to a depth of about fifty feet, with occasional 

 coral heads in situ, and coral rubble to two hundred feet. The 

 second zone reached down to three hundred and seventy feet ;, 

 here sandy material distinctly predominates and coral fragments 

 and rubble occasionally appear, and now and then a few isolated 

 corals. The mass is not reef, although obviously produced in the 

 vicinity of a reef, probably chiefly a reef rubble. Below three 

 hundred and seventy feet is the third or lower zone. The character 

 of the material suggests that it has been formed in the immediate 

 vicinity of a reef which has occasionally, if not continuously, 

 grown out laterally. 1 



Professor David's later comments are "Later examination shows 

 that the supposed thin reefs are in reality bands of coral rubble 

 cemented locally by chemical action by the growth of nullipores 

 and other organisms, also since the examination of this portion of 

 the core in Sydney (that is of the third zone) it would seem to be 

 an aggregation of skeletons of deep sea organisms in coral rubble." 

 Further he says, "The rock at the deep sea level is quite different 

 from that formed by the growth of the true reef building corals 

 in the shallow water. It appears to be formed of coral fragments 

 cemented by various deep sea organisms, the nullipore playing an 



l See summary of Professor David's Preliminary Eeport Eoyal Soc. 

 Proa, Yol. lxii., communicated by Professor Bonney. 



