WHAT IS TO BE SEEN 



study of coral could only be made at Washington, 

 D. C. at least at this end of the world. 



With the primitive forms of life it is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to determine just whether a thing is 

 animal or vegetable. Roughly speaking, the differ- 

 ence lies in their food proclivities. Plants of all 

 kinds feed upon carbonic acid, which they assimi- 

 late from the free carbonic-acid gas whether in 

 air or water. The seaweeds proper are therefore 

 vegetable. They are soft, slimy, or spongy as a 

 rule, but there are some algae that are almost 

 entirely composed of lime and have every appear- 

 ance of a close-branching coral. They are never- 

 theless nearer to the vegetable than the animal 

 kingdom. 



Most of the fans and feathers are the work of 

 tiny creatures like coral polyps, which absorb 

 nourishment from the myriads of microscopic 

 animalcules in the water. Beneath the microscope 

 these creatures are somewhat like flowers, each 

 living in a hole or groove. When the tide is flow- 

 ing, or coming in, these emerge from their holes 

 to feed. The fan is then most brilliantly coloured. 

 Specimens collected at turn of the tide are often 

 bright on one side and comparatively dull on the 

 other, the brilliant side having faced the flow of 

 the water. 



To preserve them with the best of their colour 

 the fans must be brought to the surface in a closed 



17 



