THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 91 



Lundy Island, in the mouth of the Bristol Chan- 

 nel, or more properly from that curious " Eat 

 Island" to the south of it, where still lingers 

 the black long-tailed English rat, exterminated 

 everywhere else by his sturdier brown cousin of 

 the Hanoverian dynasty. 



Look, now, at these tiny saucers of the thin- 

 nest ivory, the largest not bigger than a silver 

 threepence, which contain in their centres a milk- 

 white crust of stone, pierced, as you see under 

 the magnifier, into a thousand cells, each with its 

 living architect within. Here are two sorts ; in 

 one the tubular cells radiate from the centre, 

 giving it the appearance of a tiny compound 

 flower, daisy or groundsel ; in the other they arc 

 crossed with waving grooves, giving the whole 

 a peculiar fretted look, even more l)cautiful than 

 that of the former species. They are TuhuUpora 

 patina and Tufjulipora Itlspida; — and stay, — 

 break off that tiny rough red wart, and look at 

 its cells also under tlie magnifier : it is Ccllcpura 

 pnmicosa ; and now, with the IMadrepore you 

 hold in your hand, tlie principal, at le.'ust the 

 commonest, IJriti.-ih types of those famed coral 

 insecU*, whicli in tlie tropics are the architects of 

 continents, and the conciucrors of the ocean 



