XUl 



Milleporcs with foliated and fragile expansions: a 

 little further the coral reddens the depths of the ocean 

 with its brilliant branches, soon followed by the Po- 

 lypean madrepores. It is not however before the 

 34th degree of northern latitude that these animals 

 commence the develop emcnt of that grandeur and im- 

 mensity that presents itself at every step to the ex- 

 tent of a parallel southern latitude ; here they disap- 

 pear, after having exhibited the same series of pheno- 

 mena observed in the northern hemisphere. 



It is then within the tropics, or in a zone of more 

 than sixty degrees expansion, that these beings, these 

 animalcula, scarcely visible to the naked eye, and 

 whose operations uninterruptedly proceed, eternally 

 exercise their empire in a medium whose temperature 

 never changes. From the depths of the ocean they 

 elevate those immense reefs, that may in their conse- 

 quences entertain a communication between the inha- 

 bitants of the temperate zones. The naturalist when 

 he visits these madrcporous islands, once covered with 

 the ocean, is astonished at their enormity and perfect 

 preservation — so perfect, that the sea seems recently 

 to have abandoned them ; and frequently the same 

 species of Polypidom that crow ns the greatest heights, 

 and forms the whole island, extends from its shores 

 to an endless distance ; so that when the tide retires, 



