140 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



pure light of day, more especially as a few sunshiny 

 hours, devoted to the contemplation of the animals 

 that next invite our notice, will do more in the way of 

 enlightening us concerning the real nature of the 

 Madreporic rocks than whole volumes of learned dis- 

 quisitions. 



We must not, however, in this climate, expect to 

 find the " coral-fields ' exhibiting their full luxu- 

 riance ; it is in regions where the sun ' ' showers triple 

 heat ' that they appear in all their glory, rivalling, 

 if not surpassing, the gay charms of their terrestrial 

 sisterhood. Beneath the tropics they abound in rich 

 profusion, and trees and shrubs, and plants of various 

 kinds, have each their representatives beneath the 

 wave. The choicest garden does not oifer flowers 

 more graceful in their form, or ornamented with more 

 beautiful colours, than those of the coral-reef; and 

 we may add, too, that the birds of the groves do not 

 excel, in the richness of their hues, the fishes that 

 sport amongst the coral branches. The coral-tree, it 

 is true, is without verdure, but there is full compen- 

 sation in its perpetual bloom. 



The masses of Madrepore that enrich the cabinets 

 of the curious are familiar to every one ; but it is the 

 privilege of few to study these as they grow upon 

 their native beds. Their calcareous skeletons present 

 a vast variety of form, branched or in rounded masses, 

 or spread out in broad expansions, but at once recog- 

 nizable by the concentric laminae, variously disposed, 

 whereon the living polyps rest ; for, when alive, the 

 stony substance is incrusted with a living flesh, from 

 which arise at intervals rosettes of tentacles resem- 



