of Edinburgh, Session 1885—86. 
857 
3. Notes on the Characters and Mode of Formation of the 
Coral Eeefs of the Solomon Islands, being the Kesults 
of Observations made in 1882-84, by H. B. Guppy, 
M.B., F.G.S., during the Surveying Cruise of H.M.S. 
“ Lark.” 
I will commence my paper with a brief description of the typical 
characters of a reef in this region, referring particularly to the 
distribution of the corals. There would appear to he a large 
number of new specific forms among the reef-corals of these islands, 
whether hydroid or aetinoid. Out of nearly seventy species that I 
sent to the British Museum, almost a quarter are new or undescribed f 
and there is every probability that similar success will fall to the 
lot of other collectors in these seas. There is yet much to he 
learned of the fauna of the deeper parts of the reef-coral zone ; and 
patient dredging will doubtless yield fruitful results. Here, not 
improbably, will be found the corals of deep-sea genera and the 
Rhyncunella that I discovered in an upraised barrier-reef in the 
Shortland Islands. f Having only a small canoe, I was not able to 
dredge in these depths; but I may remark, as a good omen for 
others, that, when sounding off a reef on one occasion, I brought 
up from a depth of 14 fathoms a new and very distinct species of 
JDistichopora ( D . ochracea), which is described and figured by Mr 
J. J. Quelch in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 
July 1885. 
In describing a typical reef, I will begin with the reef-fiat. This 
portion of a reef is generally some 500 or 600 yards across. Its 
surface, which is for the most part strewn with sand, is covered at 
low tide by a depth of water of from a few inches to a foot, with 
here and there a projecting block of dead coral and an exposed 
bank of sand. Living coral is comparatively scarce on the reef- 
* Owing to ill-health, Mr Stuart Ridley has not hitherto been able to pro- 
ceed with the description of the new species. I am, however, greatly indebted 
to him for a preparatory list of the collection. A probably new genus is 
represented by one of the specimens. I sent to the Australian Museum at 
Sydney a collection of large specimens, which probably contains additional 
new species. 
+ Vide my paper on the Calcareous Formations of this Group, Trans. Edin. 
Roy. Soc., vol. xxxii. part 3. 
