Chap. XV.] STINGING POWERS OF CORALS. ^t^" 



The custom, however, shows signs of dying out, for it has 

 already to some extent reached a rudimentary condition. In 

 large war-vessels, the actual fighting guns are considered too 

 big to be played with in this manner, and a special saluting 

 battery of small old pattern guns, useless for any other purpose, 

 is kept mounted on the forecastle for the sole sake of making 

 this hideous noise. 



^ I have read of a case in which in a small out-of-the-way 

 European colony, the governor had to send on board a foreign 

 man-of-war which had arrived in his port to beg for powder to 

 return the customary salute. We may, however, congratulate 

 ourselves that matters might be worse ; there are some unfor- 

 tunate races, the members of which have to spend their money 

 in powder and let it off, on all occasions of petty private 

 domestic rejoicing. 



The coral banks, though abundant, were not so easily acces 

 sible at Amboina as at Banda, being in deeper water, and 

 specimens of most of the species could only be procured by 

 deep wading and diving. After diving for corals in a depth of 

 about ten to twelve feet, I found my eyes very sore for some 

 hours afterwards. I believe that this soreness was most pro- 

 bably produced by the stinging organs of the corals ; all corals 

 are provided with urticating organs. The stinging produced 

 by the Hydroid corals of the genus Millepora was long ago 

 noted by Darwin and others.* In the West Indies the coral 

 is sometimes called sea-ginger. 



In the case of most Anthozoan corals, the stinging organs 

 are not powerful enough to make themselves felt through the 

 skin of the hands, but I have often felt my hands tingle after 

 having been employed in collecting corals, other than Millepora, 

 on the reefs. 



In diving, the foce and open eyes are brought close to the 

 corals at the moment that these are grasped and irritated, and 

 it seems possible that the eyes might become seriously inflamed 

 and injured by the action on them of the nettle-cells. I 

 mention the circumstance as a warning to collectors ; where 

 Milleporids are present, great care should certainly be exer- 

 cised. 



On the shore of the harbour of Amboina, coral reef rock 

 occurs raised many hundred feet above sea level, forming a 

 steep hill-slope. At the summit of the ridges so formed the 

 rock stands out here and there, weathered into fantastic 

 pinnacles, with surfaces honeycombed by the action of rain, 

 just as at Bermuda, t 



* " Journal of Researches," p. 464. 

 f See page 19. 



