WONDERS OF THE DEEP 73 



It will polish with the brilliancy of a gem and 

 shine like garnet. It is very durable. Some of the 

 larger branches of coral are used for carving, and 

 from the workshops of Naples, Genoa, and Leghorn, 

 in Italy, comes the finest and most artistic work 

 in carved coral. 



Worm-eaten coral beads find special favour with 

 the natives of India, owing to a superstitions 

 belief that gods dwell in the little recesses or 

 cavities. 



What is coral ? Little was known for a long 

 time about the habits of the coral, its classification, 

 and its method of growth. But now that the coral 

 has been closely studied, we are in possession of a 

 number of scientific facts. The coral that you see 

 exhibited on a shelf in a museum, or forming a 

 charming necklace or other ornament, is merely the 

 skeleton of a once-living animal. This skeleton is as 

 hard and brittle as stone, and is the part of the 

 coral that is used for commercial purposes. In the 

 natural state, the skeleton is covered with a soft 

 substance that, when fresh, can be scraped off quite 

 easily with the nails of one's fingers. There are 

 holes in the soft portion of the coral, out of which 

 protrude little flower-like arrangements, which have 

 been compared to sea nettles. The coral polyp, as 

 it has been called, is not a flower, but a small 

 animal. Food is conveyed to it by means of the 

 currents which pass through the pores or small 

 openings. 



The structure of these little creatures is thus 



