CHAPTER XVI. 

 CORAL ARCHITECTS 



"Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters."— Ps. civ. 3. 

 *' And surges roaring from below." — Dibden. 



/^^ORAL is a familiar enough object with us 

 ^^ all, whether in the shape of a child's first 

 plaything, or a girl's first trinket, or a Museum 

 curiosity. It may be red or pink or white ; it 

 may be polished into smoothness or left in its 

 natural state of jagged roughness, dotted over 

 with tiny pits. In any case, it is a thing of 

 interest and beauty. In any case, it is the dead 

 skeleton of a once-living animal. 



In the Red Sea alone about one hundred and 

 twenty kinds of Coral are found, and in Ocean 

 waters the numbers rise rapidly. 



Perhaps one of the species best known to us 

 is the small red coral of the Mediterranean, 

 usually gathered from shallow parts, though 

 sometimes fished up from a thousand feet deep. 



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