174 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



" greenish light, soft and uniform, sufficiently reveals the 

 " wonders of the scene. We find ourselves at the foot of 

 " a vast perpendicular cliff, the base of a coral island, 

 " entirely composed, to all appearance, of glistening 

 " madrepore, of snowy whiteness, but, in reality, perhaps 

 11 only encased by it. Every part of its surface is seen, 

 " on close examination, to be studded with minute 

 " orifices, from each of which projects a little fleshy 

 " polyp, which spreads its six green arms, like the rays of 

 " a star, waiting for prey. On touching one, though ever 

 " so slightly, it contracts its arms and withdraws. Many 

 " other corals rise around us, most of them assuming the 

 " form of stony trees or shrubs, of singular variety and 

 " beauty, some crimson, some grey, some white, some 

 " black, while the rocks at our feet are almost covered 

 "with brainstones of vast size, mushroom-corals, and 

 " other madrepores, of the most grotesque forms. 

 " Enormous sea - fans wave their netted expansions 

 " slowly to and fro in the long heavy swell of the sea, 

 11 embraced here and there by the slender branches of 

 " the jointed corallines. The beauty of form and colour 

 " displayed by these productions is contrasted with the 

 " sober hue of the sponges, which, in endless diversity, 

 " overspread the bottom of the sea. Their forms are no 

 " less fantastic than those of the corals, and resemble 

 " vases, or tables, or horns, or tubes, or globes, or many- 

 " fingered hands ; while from the larger orifices on their 

 11 surface, as from so many mouths, they pour forth 

 " incessant streams of water with untiring activity. The 

 " vegetable productions, however, display little of the 

 " variety which marks their sisters of the upper world ; 

 " but the dull yellow bladder-weed and other fuci creep 

 " among the rocks, and the brown sea-thong and fea- 

 " thery conferva wave amidst the coral branches. 



