74 WONDERS OF THE DEEP 



very simple ; they present the appearance of a 

 pocket or open purse, the mouth being surrounded 

 with tiny tentacles, or feelers, and conducting to 

 the central portion of the polyp the food that is 

 carried by the current that enters it. 



So peculiar and fantastic is the coral scenery on 

 the sea bed, that one fancies oneself in a land of fairy 

 enchantment. Here is a description of some fairy 

 grottoes which will help you to form a mental picture 

 of the delightful scenery on the bed of the ocean. 

 " You look down, and see a steep, irregular wall, ex- 

 tending deeper into the ocean than the eye can follow, 

 and broken into lovely grottoes and holes and canals, 

 through which the resplendent fishes of the brightest 

 blue or gold flit fitfully between the lumps of coral. 

 The sides of the natural grottoes are entirely 

 covered with endless forms of tender-coloured 

 coral, but all beautiful, and all more or less of 

 the fingery or branching species, known as mad- 

 repores. It is really impossible to draw or describe 

 the sight." 



There are various kinds of coral, as well as nearly 

 every variety of colour. The fan coral is so called 

 because of its resemblance to that article formerly in 

 great favour with ladies. Sometimes this specimen of 

 branch coral looks like a dwarf tree on the top of a 

 hill. Some corals take the form of palms, which bend 

 to the current as it sweeps onwards ; others are some- 

 thing like a whip in shape. Brain coral is to be seen 

 in the West Indian seas ; this kind has been so named 

 because in shape it bears a wonderful resemblance to 



1 



