260 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



A coral pool, reconstructed from material collected at Lord Howe Island. 



[Photo.— G. (' 



Glutton . 



ct)ndition.s which (.lestroy the most 

 powerful works man may devise. 

 Others prefer less turbulent waters, and 

 thrive in the shelter of their more hardy 

 fellows. 



In their living state all are more or 

 less coloured, but they are better known 

 to most people by their limy skeletons, 

 bleached snowy white upon a mantel 

 shelf. 



The regions where coral-reefs occur 

 support a much greater w^ealth of life 

 than is to be found anywhere else. 

 Myriads of minute organisms abound in 

 their vicinity and form the main food 

 supply of a host of larger animals such 

 as crabs, shell-fish, worms and echino- 

 derms. These in their turn are 

 l)reyed upon by an endless variety of 

 fishes, which teem in the holes and 

 channels of the reef edge and patrol the 

 neighbourhood in search of food. Such 

 sand as occurs consists solely of the 

 triturated remains of reef animals, 

 and not infrequently almost every grain 

 is a more or less eroded shell of a tiny 

 creature called Tinoporus. This, a 



mere speck of jelly, lives upon seaweeds, 

 often in such numbers as to cover them 

 entirely. They also extract lime from 

 the sea, and secrete it around themselves 

 as hard star-shaped tests ; when the 

 animals die these fall to the bottom, 

 filling up holes and cracks between the 

 corals and adding largely to the final 

 solidity of the reef. Their jelly sub- 

 stance, and that of allied and even more 

 minute animalculae, is eagerly sought 

 by star-fish, sea urchins, and beche-de- 

 mer which creep among the crevices in 

 the coral ever engulfing sand, which 

 passes through their long intestines 

 while the animal matter is sorted out 

 and assimilated, 



A recently constructed exhibit in 

 the Museum attempts to show some- 

 thing of the beauty and abundance of 

 life ujjon a coral reef. The visitor is 

 supposed to be beneath the water, 

 looking through the glass into a pool 

 formed of growing corals as one would 

 look into an aquarium. All the rock is 

 covered with coral gro\vths of many 

 different kinds and colours, which 

 branch and creep over one another like 



