THE INFLUENCE OF ANIMAL LIFE ON LIME. 89 



take root and flourish, so that in time an island 

 is formed, covered with cocoa-palms and other 

 exotic trees. This is the case about the Ber- 

 mudas, where nothing can exceed the beauty of 

 these coral islands. 



When you consider that, in addition to these, 

 there are coral reefs, some of which extend up- 

 wards of one thousand miles, it would appear 

 certain that the operations of these little insects 

 must have existed from the earliest periods of 

 this our globe. It is a wonderful fact to reflect 

 upon, and will show how Providence arranges be- 

 neficially for the good of His creatures a system 

 which it would never have entered into the mind 

 of a finite being to conceive as possible, until 

 more recent discoveries have proved that such 

 is the case. Barrier reefs are similar to coral 

 islands. They run parallel with the shores of 

 some larger island or continent, separated, how- 

 ever, from the mainland by a broad and deep 

 lagoon channel. The prodigious extent of the 

 combined and ceaseless labours of these little 

 world-architects, as they may be called, must be 

 witnessed in order to be properly conceived. 

 For instance, they have built up a barrier reef 

 along the shores of New Caledonia for a length 



