Report to the committee of the Royal Society appointed to investigate the structure of a coral reef by boring

Abstract

In presenting, as desired by the Committee, Professor Sollas’s report on the attempts to ascertain, by boring, the structure of the atoll of Funafuti and on other investigations simultaneously undertaken, I avail myself of the opportunity of expressing the gratitude which is felt by its members to our friends in New South Wales, who have given such real and substantial help, especially by the loan of machinery and skilled workmen, in putting the project into execution; and among them chiefly to Professor Anderson Stuart (who has been practically another secretary in Australia), Professor Edgeworth David, Mr. W. H. J. Slee (Chief Inspector of Mines), and Sir Saul Samuel (the Agent-General of the Colony in England). I shall venture also to acknowledge gratefully the services of Captain Field and the officers of H.M.S. "Penguin," and the unstinted labour which has been given by Mr. W. W. Watts, F. G. S., our Secretary in London, in carrying out our plans. In conclusion, may I express, speaking for myself, my earnest hope that another attempt will be made to determine the true structure of an atoll.