8 FLORIDA REEFS. 
ble depth, and forming isolated, disconnected patches, the first rudiments, as 
it were, of an extensive new reef. There we have a continuous range of 
similar corals in unbroken continuity for miles, or even hundreds of miles, 
rising at unequal heights nearly to the surface. 
Here and there a few heads or large patches, or even extensive flats of 
corals, reach the level of low-water mark, and may occasionally be seen 
above the surface of the \vaters, when the sea is more agitated than by the 
simple action of the tides. In other places coral sands or loose fragments 
of corals, larger or smaller boulders, detached from lower parts of the living 
reef, are thrown upon its dying summits, and thus fonn the first accumula- 
tion of solid materials, rising permanently above low-water naark; collected 
sometimes in such quantities and at such heights as to remain dry, stretch- 
ing their naked heads above high water. 
In other places these accumulations of loose, dead materials have entirely 
covered the once living corals, as far as the eye can reach into the depth 
of the ocean : no sign of life is left, except perhaps here and there an 
isolated bunch of some of those species of corals which naturally grow 
scattered, or of those other organisms which congregate around or upon 
coral reefs ; but the increase of the reef by the natural growth of the 
reef-building corals is at an end. Again, in other places, by the further 
accumulation of such loose materials, and the peculiar mode of aggregation 
which results from the action of the sea upon them, and which will be 
more fully explained hereafter', extensive islands are formed, ranging 
in the direction of the main-land, which support them. Elsewhere we 
may find the whole extent of the reef thus covered, which, after a still 
more protracted accumulation, perhaps becomes united with some conti- 
nental shore. 
Now it must be obvious, that from a comparison of so many separate 
stages of the growth of a coral reef, a correct insight may be obtained into 
the process of its formation ; and, indeed, in thus alluding to the different 
localities which came under our own observation, we have ali'eady given 
a genei'al history of its progress, which we now proceed to illustrate more 
in detail. 
We would, however, first remark, that the extraordinary varieties which 
exist in the natural condition of different parts of the same reef, or of 
diffei'ent reefs, when compared with each other, fully explain the discrepan- 
cies between the reports which have been obtained, respecting the reefs of 
Florida, prior to our investigations. 
