ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 435 
Fiji, or we may have a submerged crater the volcanic rim of which may 
erode away to beneath sea-level, thus giving a foundation for a ring- 
shaped coral reef. 
Unfortunately the very multitude of Alexander Agassiz’s observa- 
tions, and the somewhat confused style of his writing, renders him 
difficult to follow. Had he enjoyed greater experience as a lecturer he 
might have become a clearer writer, for he constantly assumed that his 
readers were as familiar with the subject as himself, and that a few 
words would make his meaning as clear to them as to him. 
It is to be regretted that of the three great writers upon coral reefs 
Darwin saw only one atoll, Dana sailed past many but was permitted 
to land upon few, for the islands were then inhabited by dangerous 
cannibals, and Agassiz was compelled to cover such a vast field that cer- 
tain of his conclusions, as he states himself, are still tentative; for the 
solution of some of the questions presented by these problems demands 
a more intensive and prolonged study than he was able to devote to 
them. 
While in the Hawaiian Islands in 1885 he found that the coral 
reefs have repeatedly been buried under lava floes, and that the corals 
have again grown over the submerged lava. The reefs have nowhere 
been elevated more than 25 feet above sea-level, but the coral sands 
and shell fragments have been blown upward along the mountain 
slopes and have formed limestone dunes which the rains have cemented 
into solid rock. These wind-blown limestone ledges may be found 700 
feet or more above the level of the sea. 
In 1890 he published a paper showing that reef corals may become 
two and one half inches thick in less than seven years, his observations 
being based upon a study of corals that had grown upon the Havana- 
Key West cable. 
In 1887 Alexander Agassiz was invited by the U. 8. Fish Commis- 
sion to assume the scientific direction of an expedition of the steam- 
ship Albatross between Panama and the Galapagos Islands, but he was 
unable to accept until 1891, when from February until May he cruised 
with the Albatross from Panama to Point Mola, thence to Cocos, Mal- 
pelo and Galapagos Islands, and from Acapulco to the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia, making 84 deep-sea trawl hauls, soundings and temperature 
observations, and in five more stations using the surface and sub-marine 
nets. 
A significant feature of this expedition was due to the invention by 
Lieutenant Commander Z. L. Tanner, U.S.N., of a self-closing net 
which enabled one to obtain marine animals at any stratum of depth, 
and thus to determine the range in depth of marine creatures. The 
use of this excellent net led Alexander Agassiz to conclude that the 
floating life of the surface of the sea does not sink to a depth greater 
