. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Zoology. AGASSIZ : FIJI ISLANDS AND CORAL REEFS. 39 rine erosion from the former extension of the slopes of the rim or of its spurs. These have been more or less connected together by the subse- quent growth of the corals which have found a footing upon them. Kini Kini and the other islets about Totoya, as well as the negro-heads on the reef flats and patches, all show the volcanic substructure upon which has grown and is thriving now a thin crust of TOTOYA FROM THE NOKTHEAST, DISTANT FIVE MILES. It has been difficult
. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Zoology. AGASSIZ : FIJI ISLANDS AND CORAL REEFS. 39 rine erosion from the former extension of the slopes of the rim or of its spurs. These have been more or less connected together by the subse- quent growth of the corals which have found a footing upon them. Kini Kini and the other islets about Totoya, as well as the negro-heads on the reef flats and patches, all show the volcanic substructure upon which has grown and is thriving now a thin crust of TOTOYA FROM THE NOKTHEAST, DISTANT FIVE MILES. It has been difficult to explain the great depth in some of the lagoons of some atolls (60 fathoms). It seems to me that the conditions occur- ring in an island like Totoya give us a simple explanation of what such depths mean in coral districts situated in volcanic regions. Provided that we assume that these lagoons are in a region of elevation, as are the Fiji Islands, and that its volcanic peaks or ridges and volcanoes have been denuded and eroded, and that nothing has been left to indicate their former existence beyond the reef flats upon which the corals of the present day are growing. Remembering also that the corals can form but an insignificant crust upon the slopes and flats which have been pre- pared for their growth by the processes of elevation and of subsequent erosion and denudation, and that the features characteristic of the existing state of things was not brought about by the growth of the coral reefs of to-day except in a very secondary manner. We are not discussing the question of the formation of great limestone banks by subsidence to attain the proper depth at which corals may begin to grow. We are only trying to give an explanation of the conditions which must have preceded and have led to the existing state of things. The deepest water in the crater basin of Totoya is thirty-five fathoms, and it certainly cannot be held that a lagoon of such a depth has been formed by subsid
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