THE CORAL REEFS 171 



raw sausage ; while the males and workers are little, 

 if any, larger than our common black ants. They are 

 not true ants, however, having been misnamed. 



Sometimes a tube of mud will extend from a large 

 nest up into a tree, and a small opposition nest or side- 

 show will be started, which gives the tree the appear- 

 ance of supporting large burls or warts. 



The coral-reefs came in for a fair share of our atten- 

 tion, and we spent hours wandering over them at low 

 tide. They extended partly round the island, and 

 were a constant pleasure and delight to us. It 

 seemed a shame to walk over the reefs, breaking at 

 every step lovely corals, which would be the pride 

 of our museums. Some of the branching corals, radi- 

 ating from a centre, and as large over as a round table, 

 were very graceful. The different kinds were of sev- 

 eral colors, being red, green, brown, blue, and black. 

 None were white. It is not until they are bleached 

 that they lose all color. In places, the reef was cov- 

 ered for rods with soft corals or "sea-flesh," as it 

 is called resembling thick, wet leather, and very 

 smooth and slippery to walk upon. 



We sometimes came across a giant clam (Tridacna 

 gigas), three or four feet long (the largest of all shells), 

 buried in the reef. The two valves shut together with 

 terrible force, probably enough to break a man's leg 

 should he, by any accident, step into the open shell. 

 They look innocent enough when open, as their soft 



