46 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



mer fishers on the Queensland Barrier, through the direct agency of these colossal shell-fish, 

 have been reported to the author. 



(B.)-OUTER BARRIER REEF WITH EMPTY SHELL OF GIANT CLIM, 



This plate, which might have been appropriately labelled " House to Let, with Immediate 

 Possession," represents, as its central object of attraction, the gleaming, white internal surface of 

 a recently defunct Tridacna. Actually, it is a specimen with the body removed preparatory to 

 transportation; the almost snowy whiteness of the porcelain-like lining of the ponderous shells 

 forms a striking and picturesque contrast against the somewhat dim, fast-fading light that illumines 

 the surrounding reef-scape. On the distant horizon a wooded coral islet, the fac-simile of hundreds 

 scattered throughout the Great Barrier region, is upreared against the sky. The tide, rapidly 

 rising, has left but few coral heads uncovered ; the most notable among these are the bouquet- 

 shaped coralla of Madirpora millepora, resplendent in life with contrasting tints of cream and 

 mauve, and the more robust terminal branchlets of the brilliant green variety of the Stags'-horn 

 coral, Madrcpora licbcs. In the most immediate foreground is a well-defined patch of a golden- 

 brown Alcyonarian, referable to the genus Spongodes. 



PLATE XXX. 



(S.)-FLOTSIM, WRECK OF MISSION SCHOONER "HARRIER." 



" Flotsam and Jetsam," the collective title of this plate, is suggestively represented in the 

 former association (Fig. A) by the stranded hulk of the schooner Harrier, formerly belonging to 

 Her Majesty's Navy, but within recent years made over to the New Guinea Mission Service. 

 While making one of her customary passages from Port Moresby to Cooktown, and after having 

 safely threaded the Lark Pass and other intricacies of the Outer Barrier, she ran hopelessly 

 aground on what is known as F reef, some twenty miles only from her port of destination. 

 Fortunately, no lives were lost on this occasion. The author was associated with the honour 

 of discovering and rescuing the captain and crew from their perilous position, while returning 

 in the Queensland Government schooner Governor Cainis from an excursion to the Barrier 

 fishing-stations. 



It would be a matter of congratulation if similar immunity from loss of life could be recorded 

 of every wreck recently associated with the Great Barrier region. One most noteworthy and 

 painful instance, only too fresh in the mind of every Queenslander, was the loss of the good ship 

 Quetta at the entrance to Torres Strait on the night of February 28, 1890. This magnificent 



