CORALS. 



are required constructed upon a larger scale, it becomes needful 

 that the whole fabric should be supported upon some internal 

 framework or scaffolding, of a nature sufficiently firm and unyield- 

 ing to sustain the general body, and thus allow full room for the 

 expansion of the flower-like Polypes. In a vast majority of in- 

 stances, therefore, the common substance of these creatures has 

 the power of depositing earthy particles derived from the sur- 

 rounding water, wherewith if builds a massive skeleton, present- 

 ing upon its surface innumerable little pits or cells wherein the 

 Polypes lodge. Such are 



The Madrepores, whose skeletons form the ornaments of our cabinets, 

 and of which a small fragment is delineated in the accompanying engraving 

 (Fig. 34). 



FIG. 34. MADREPORE. 



FIG. 35. CELL OF MADREPORE. 



Many of these stony masses form branching clusters of exceeding elegance, 

 nor is our admiration at all abated when we institute a closer examination of 

 their structure. Take any one of all the million cells which crowd its surface : 

 each tiny orifice in which each individual Polype of the countless host resides 

 is, in itself, a microscopic gem, matchless for the regularity and beauty of its 

 arrangement, and the mathematical precision with which it is built (Fig. 35). 

 During the life of the Madrepore, every one of these minute cells gave issue 

 or concealment to a radiant Polype, which, like a living flower, protruded its 

 eight arms in search of food. 



In the hot climates where these stone-making corals abound, they frequent 

 shallow bays and sheltered spots, where they can enjoy the full influences of 

 light and are unexposed to the agitation of the ocean : in such situations the 

 submarine rocks become gradually encrusted with their calcareous skeletons, 



