1889-90.] Dr J. Murray & Mr R Irvine on Coral Reefs. 89 
Experiment IX. Albumen taken from a freshly-laid egg was 
diluted with water and pure potash added, and the clear solution was 
Nesslerised. This showed no trace of ammoniacal salts. 
These experiments show the alteration that is produced in the 
constitution of sea salts, and especially in the constitution of the lime 
salts, by the effete matters thrown into the sea by animals ; in the 
case of Experiment III., the effete matter from four small crabs 
was sufficient to produce, in twelve months, a quantity of carbonate 
of lime equal to nearly five times the weight of their own calcareous 
structures. Wherever effete animal matters are being thrown into 
the sea, or wherever animal structures are undergoing decay in the 
ocean, decomposition products, many of them of a complex con- 
stitution, pass into solution. These, in the presence of the 
sea water salts, give rise to many reactions, and, among others, the 
formation of ammoniacal salts always takes place to a greater or less 
extent. Sea water collected among the coral atolls of the Louisiade 
Archipelago * contained in one million parts — 
Saline ammonia, , . . . . . 048 
Albuminoid ammonia, . . . . . 0T8 
0*66 
Water 'collected by the “Challenger” in the North Atlantic, 
lat. 30° 20' N,, long. 36° 6' W., contained of — 
Saline ammonia, . . . . . . 0'26 
Albuminoid ammonia, . . . . 0T6 
0*42 
Water from the German Ocean near land contained of — 
Saline ammonia, . . . . . . 0T3 
Albuminoid ammonia, . . . . . 0T3 
0-26 
So that water from the coral reef regions contained nearly twice as 
much of these ammoniacal salts as water from the North Atlantic, 
and nearly three times as much as water from the German Ocean. 
This shows, it appears to us, that the carbonate of ammonia, 
* These samples were received through Captain Wharton, F.R.S., Hydro- 
grapher to the Admiralty. 
