Note 13 — Chapter V · TIME, AND THE GEOLOGICAL EPOCHS.

“There is no doubt that coral, under favorable conditions of growth, increases to an enormous extent, and very rapidly: and although there are many instances on record of reefs which have not increased for many years, there are others telling a very different tale. The case of Matilda Atoll, described by Captain Beechy, is quoted as an example of this latter kind, this atoll having been converted in thirty-four years from being a reef of rocks into a lagoon island, fourteen miles in length, with one of its sides covered nearly all the way with high trees. Some experiments were also mentioned, in which it has been attempted to measure the rate of increase of different kinds of corals, and as one result of these, is an instance of a growth of two feet thick of coral, accumulated on the copper bottom of a vessel in the course of twenty months.”—Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin.