354 
Mr. P. W. Bassett-Smith on 
determinations, if Dr. G. J. Hinde had not, at the sacrifice 
of much time, most kindly gone over the whole of the collec- 
tion and revised my work. Owing to various circumstances 
the present Report is limited to an enumeration of the different 
species which have been determined ; amongst them are many 
forms which in Dr. Hinde’s opinion are apparently new, but 
a detailed description of these is delayed until they can be 
reexamined with the assistance of additional material, and 
until an opportunity can be found to figure them suitably. 
I have thought it desirable to subjoin some brief notes on the 
character of the reefs whence the corals were obtained. 
The Tizard Bank (PI. XII.) is situated in lat. 10° N., 
long. 114° E., near the centre of the China Sea between the 
Philippines and the Malay Peninsula. Like many others 
in the same region it is irregularly circular in outline ; and 
it has an extreme length of 32 miles and a breadth of 10, 
and it is surrounded by deep water. 
But with such an extended margin the only portions of the 
bank which project above the surface of the sea consist of three 
small islets, each from half a mile to one mile in length, and 
two very small sand-kays of about one mile each. For the 
greater part of the circumference of the bank, that is for 50 
out of 67 miles, the rim is within 10 fathoms of the surface. 
On the north-east side there are two extensions of the bank, 
5 and 4J miles in length respectively ; the first of these is 
nearly uncovered at low water, whilst the other is at a depth 
of 6 fathoms. 
The area of the lagoon inclosed within this bank is very 
extensive ; it has an average depth of 40 fathoms, with a few 
scattered elevations here and there, the eastern end being the 
most shallow portion. The bottom of the lagoon is covered 
by a fine foraminiferal sand, and the same material extends 
over the floor of the narrow channels which cut through the 
rim and connect the lagoon with the outer sea. At depths of 
6 to 10 fathoms long channels paved with this sand can be 
seen bounded on either side by walls of living coral. 
From the central portion of this sandy floor of the lagoon, 
at a depth of 45 fathoms, a living Asteean coral belonging to 
an apparently new species of Favia was dredged up, thus 
showing the existence of these reef-building forms at depths 
much greater than it has been supposed they could flourish 
in. I may here point out that the evidence obtainable by the 
lead alone regarding the presence of living corals is entirely 
misleading and almost worthless. For example, judging 
from the observations obtained by the lead, the greater part 
of the corals on the surface of the Macclesfield Bank appeared 
