PHOTOTYPE PLATES NOS. XIV. AND XV. 25 



A not uninteresting point associated with this remarkable reef-scape is the fact that it 

 was photographed, as was the case with the dog-like effigy in Plate VIII., No. i, without the 

 slightest suspicion, at the time, of the grotesque and gruesome elements introduced. Indeed, 

 the Skull Reef area, here reproduced, occupies but a small superficies of the original negative, 

 and it is by enlargement only that its suggestive peculiarities have been made prominent. In 

 the matter of Coral-reef photography, primary regard has to be given to the well-worn aphor- 

 ism, " Time and tide wait for no man." The lowest tidally-exposed coral-growths do not remain 

 uncovered for a longer space, possibly, than half an hour ; and in that brief interval the operator 

 must crowd in all that he is able of rapidly-grasped eligible subjects, without wasting time over 

 the comparison and selection of elaborate detail. 



The coral species that enters into the composition of the skull-like effigies in the present 

 illustration is a small-celled variety of Goniastrasa identical with, or nearly allied to, G. c.ximia — 

 a species whose corallum, similarly, when left high and dry, becomes almost white through the 

 abnormal retraction of the associated polyps and their intervening membranes. Other members 

 of the same family group of the Astrasidas are represented by the solid coralla of Prionastraea and 

 a larger-celled variet}' of Goniastraea. The minutely nodular corallum of considerable size that 

 occupies the centre of the reef, on the right-hand side, is a species of Porites closelj' related to 

 P. astrceoidcs. The somewhat widespreading corymbiform or bouquet-shaped coralla of a species 

 of Madrepora are pretty plentifully interspersed among the more massive Astraeaceae. These 

 represent chiefly Madrepora millepora, the growing colour of which, as with several allied 

 forms, is a creamy-buff with brilliant mauve-pink terminations to each of the erect, crowded 

 hranchlets. In many specimens it was observed that the rims of all of the more prominent 

 lower corallites were similarly tinged with the brighter colour ; the distal terminations of some of 

 the dried coralla of this Madrepore collected have retained a considerable increment of their 

 original tint. 



Alcyonaria of diverse varieties enter extensively into the composition of this reef-view. 

 Among these, the most notable species is the one of a white colour and frothy aspect that 

 covers a large space near the outer margin of the reef to the extreme left. The natural tint oi 

 this species is a pale primrose-yellow, and it is identical with the type delineated in Fig. 2 of 

 Plate X. of the chromo-lithographic series. 



PLATE XV. 



LOW WOODY REEF, OUTER BARRIER SERIES, NO. 5,* 



This reef-view, from an artistic standpoint, lays claim, perhaps, to the most prominent 

 position among the collective series reproduced in this volume. The variety of coral species it 



* See Footnote to Preceding Plate. 



