Notes on the Characters and Mode of Formation of the Coral Reefs of the Solomon Islands, being the Results of Observations made in 1882–84

I will commence my paper with a brief description of the typical characters of a reef in this region, referring particularly to the distribution of the corals. There would appear to be a large number of new specific forms among the reef-corals of these islands, whether hydroid or actinoid. Out of nearly seventy species that I sent to the British Museum, almost a quarter are new or undescribed;* and there is every probability that similar success will fall to the lot of other collectors in these seas. There is yet much to be learned of the fauna of the deeper parts of the reef-coral zone; and patient dredging will doubtless yield fruitful results. Here, not improbably, will be found the corals of deep-sea genera and the Rhynconella that I discovered in an upraised barrier-reef in the Shortland Islands. Having only a small canoe, I was not able to dredge in these depths; but I may remark, as a good omen for others, that, when sounding off a reef on one occasion, I brought up from a depth of 14 fathoms a new and very distinct species of Distichopora (D. ochracea) , which is described and figured by Mr J. J. Quelch in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for July 1885.