THE ANIMAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 503 



In addition to the long list of marine species there is an extended list of 

 fresh-water limu, many species of which were also used fur food by the natives 

 living at some distance from the sea. 



But important as limu is as a footl for man. its importance as a food for 

 the myriads of animals of the coral reef that feed on it exclusively, or at one 

 stage or another of their existence, is far greater. It is perhaps in this indirect 

 way that it has its most significant bearing on the food supply in Hawaii, and 

 it is the oecological relation of the.se curious plants and animals to their envi- 

 ronment, that is of sucli absorbing interest to the student of natural historv. 



