VOLCANO ISLANDS, three small islands in the western Pacific Ocean, south of the Bonin Islands, forming part of the Japanese empire (annexed in 1891). They are also known as the Magellan Archipelago, and in Japan as Kwazan-retto (series of volcanic islands). They are situated between 24° and 26° N. and 141° and 142° E. Their names are Kita-iwo-jima (Santo
Alessandro)., Iwo-jima (Sulphur) and Minami-iwo-jima (Santo Agostino). Kita-iwo-jima—which, as its name (kita) implies, is the most northerly of the three—rises 2,520 ft. above the water, and Minami-iwo-jima, the most southerly, to 3,021 ft.