376 SUBMARINE GLORIES OF THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft 

 Bank the mid-sea ; 



Or, sporting with quick glance. 

 Show to the sun their waved coats dropp'd with gold. 

 Or in the pearly shells at ease attend 

 Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food 

 In painted armor watch." 



The Indian Ocean, one of the ^ye grand divisions of the 

 universal ocean, is especially rich in its submarine scenery. 

 We dive into the liquid crystal of its waters, and it opens 

 to us the most wondrous enchantments of the fairy tales of 

 our childhood's dreams. The strangely branching thickets 

 bear living flowers. Dense masses of Meandrinus (a genus 

 of polyps), and Astreas (" a star ;" animalculge which form 

 coral), contrast with the leafy cup-shaped expansions of the 

 Explanarius, the variously ramified Madrepores^ which are 

 now spread out like fingers, now rise in trunk-like branches,^ 

 and now display the most elegant array of interlacing 

 branches. The coloring surpasses everything : vivid green 

 alternates with brown or yellow ; rich tints of purple, from 

 pale red-brown to the deepest blue. Brilliant rosy, yellow^ 

 or peach-colored Nullipores overgrow the decaying masses,, 

 and are themselves interwoven with the pearl-colored plate& 

 of the RetiporeSy resembling the most delicate ivory carvings. 

 Close by wave the yellow and lilac fans, perforated like 

 trellis-work, of the Gorgonius, The clear sand of the bottom 

 is covered with the thousand strange forms and tints of the 

 sea-urchins and star-fishes. The leaf-like Flustras and Escha- 

 ras adhere like mosses and lichens to the branches of the 

 corals; the yellow, green, and purple-striped limpets cling 

 like monstrous cochineal insects upon their trunks. Like 

 gigantic cactus-blossoms, sparkling in the most ardent colors, 

 the Sea-Anemones expand their crowns of tentacles upon the 

 broken rocks, or more modestly embelish the flat bottom, 

 looking like beds of variegated ranunculuses. Around the 



