OCR Text |
Show Atolls. It is shown by the Investigations conducted by scientific expeditions to the Pacific islands that there is a slow elevation going on there, which, by lifting the reefs gradually above the waves, preserves them from erosion at the top, and enables vegetation and certain animal forms of a terrestrial character to exist there. This is quite in opposition to' Darwin's Idea that the atolls were formed by the gradual grad-ual submergence of small islands, and that the coral Insects built up encircling encir-cling reefs as the islands sank. Recent reports show that the elevation eleva-tion of the islands is a general phenomenon, phe-nomenon, but variable In amount, some Islands rising rapidly and others very slowly. Both the flora and the fauna of these islands are confined to a very few species, although, seen from a distance, dis-tance, some of them appear very rich In vegetation. Harper's Weekly. |