58 



CORAL AND ATOLLS 



Fig. 2. 



Fwicjia: Living Specimen. 



are not rainbow-hued, but are, for the most part, of a yellowish 

 or greenish colour, with here and there a purple colony, and 

 here and there a pink one. The " fairy bowers," so often 



described, exist only in cer- 

 tain spots where the water is 

 sufficiently smooth to permit 

 the more highly branched 

 forms to flourish. I'he most 

 abundant type of growth is 

 in the shape of a large 

 rounded, solid rock. It is 

 the clearness of the water 

 that gives the whole charm 

 to the beauty of the coral 

 beds, for the water is of an 

 indescribable blue, and so 

 clear that the bottom is 

 plainly to be seen in depths of over 30 feet. Through the 

 blue water the living colonies are seen as little trees and rocks 

 scattered about in a con- 

 fusion of colour and form. 

 The whole scene is made 

 alive, by the flickering of 

 the moving water and the 

 darting forms of brilliant 

 fish, in a manner that is 

 altogether charming ; and 

 the beauty of the whole 

 water picture, rather than 

 the beauty of the corals 

 themselves, is the chief at- 

 traction of the coral beds. 



Some of the corals are 

 hard, and their colonies form 



massive boulders or branching stony growths (Zoantharia), ard 

 some are soft and fleshy (Alcyonacea), and these spread out 

 upon the rocks very much after the fashion of the fungi 



Fig. 



Fwigia 



Same Specimen Dead and 

 Dried. 



