XXX11. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



hundred and eighty-seven feet, the latter being the greatest depth 

 attained by the boring up to the time when Mr. Gerald H. 

 Halligan left the atoll on September 6th. The rock is harder 

 than that previously encountered, but is easier for boring, as it 

 does not need to be supported by lining pipes to prevent caving. 

 Mr. Halligan exhibited specimens of the material dredged by Mr, 

 A. E. Finckh and himself from the seaward slope of the atoll, 

 from between depths of thirty and two hundred fathoms. The 

 apparatus used consisted of a heavy steel chisel and hempen tangles, 

 and a strong conical steel bucket with sharp cutting edge. The 

 results were very satisfactory, a considerable amount of new and 

 useful material having been obtained. Mr. Halligan also exhibited 

 samples of the Halimeda sand and coral heads obtained by him 

 when in charge of the hydraulic drill belonging to the Works 

 Department of New South Wales, and placed on H.M.S. Porpoise 

 for the purpose of boring the bottom of the Funafuti lagoon. 

 Professor David stated that the time allowed by the Admiralty 

 for the boring was one week, and in this short space of time two 

 bores had been put down to depths respectively of two hundred 

 and forty-five and two hundred and fourteen feet below the surface 

 of the lagoon, the depth of water at the sites of both bores being 

 one hundred and one feet. The Halimeda sand proved to be 

 eighty feet thick, and under that in each bore coral heads, appar- 

 ently in situ, had been penetrated. The rate of boring in the 

 bottom of the lagoon had averaged about forty-five feet per day, 

 a highly satisfactory result. The evidence obtained would probably 

 be of great value, as bearing on the subject of Darwin's theory as 

 to the formation of atolls by subsidence. 



The following donations were laid upon the table and acknow- 

 ledged : — 



TRANSACTIONS, JOURNALS, REPORTS, &c. 

 (The Names of the Donors are in Italics ) 



Adelaide — Department of Mines. Report on Explorations in 

 Western Part of South Australia by H. Y. L. Brown, 

 also Contributions to the Palaeontology of South Aus- 

 tralia by R. Etheridge, Junr. The Mannahill Goldfield. 

 The Wadnaminga Goldfield, 1898. The Department 



