It is supposed that the small, natural‐glass bodies known as tektites were originally derived in major part from the glassy basalt, or tachylyte, which forms the deeper crustal layer of the earth, exposed chiefly on the floor of the Pacific basin, at the time of the fissional separation of the moon; furthermore, that the earthly tektites represent only a small section of the vast swarms of tiny satellites which remained revolving about the earth within the Roche limit, and particularly that section of the satellites having a revolutional period closely coinciding with the period of the earth's rotation. Such swarms would have remained approximately above the Pacific basin, but would have gradually fallen behind and tended to be drawn to the earth, on account of perturbations resulting from the gradual retardation of the moon. Cumulative perturbations and other related factors have caused swarms of these bodies to come down to the earth at widely separated geologic periods in the earth's history, such falls having been particularly extensive along a great‐circle route crossing the western edge of the Pacific basin. This circumstance would account for the great quantity and wide distribution of the Indo‐malaysian tektites ***espeoially, which are of almost identical chemical composition, while other showers of tektites came at different geologic periods and varied somewhat in composition and physical appea