ACALEPILE. 491 



gence, or design. Commencing betimes from a depth of a 

 thousand or fifteen hundred feet, they work upwards in a 

 perpendicular direction ; and on arriving at the surface 

 form a crescent, presenting the back of the arch in that 

 direction from which the storms and winds generally pro- 

 ceed : by which means the wall protects the busy millions 

 at work beneath and within. These breakwaters will re- 

 sist more powerful seas than if formed of granite ; rising 

 as they do in a mighty expanse of water, exposed to the 

 utmost powers of the heavy and tumultuous billows that 

 eternally lash against them. 



As we glance at the map of the world, and think of the 

 profusion of fragrant vegetation and delicious food almost 

 spontaneously produced on the lovely sunny islands of the 

 broad Pacific, how startling does it seem, when we are 

 told that these islands, bearing on their bosoms gardens of 

 Eden, are entirely formed by the slow-growing corals, 

 which, rising up in beautiful and delicate forms, displace 

 the mighty ocean, defy its gigantic strength, and display a 

 shelly bosom to the expanse of day ! The vegetation of 

 the sea, cast on its surface, undergoes a chemical change ; 

 the deposit from rains aids in filling up the little gaping 

 catacomb, the fowls of the air and the ocean find a resting 

 place, and assist in clothing the rocks ; mosses carpet the 

 surface, seed brought by birds, plants carried by the 

 oceanic currents, animalcules floating in the atmosphere, 

 live, propagate, and die, and are succeeded, by the assist- 

 ance their remains bestow, by more advanced vegetable and 

 animal life : and thus generation after generation exist and 

 perish, until at length the coral island becomes a paradise 

 filled with the choicest exotics, the most beautiful birds 

 and delicious fruits, among which man may indolently 

 revel to the utmost desire of his heart. 



Acaleph^e. — In great variety of form and colour, 

 swimming freely about the waters of the ocean, are found 

 in abundance the beautiful Acalephoe. Some of them 

 have a remarkable stinging property, from which circum- 

 stance they derive their name of Sea-nettles ; others, from 

 their gelatinous nature, are known as Sea-jelly, or Jelly- 

 fish. 



These interesting animals were first arranged in three 



