CHAPTER XVIII 



ABOUT GREEN LEAVES 



COME of us have seen in the tank of an aqua- 

 ^ rium a white or rosy mass of living coral. All 

 over its surface there is a quivering, fluttering 

 movement of something that looks like living 

 swan's down. 



If the tank is roughly jarred this movement 

 stops; the quivering swan's down disappears. 

 The " coral insects," as they are called, have 

 shrunk away into hiding. Their feathery feelers 

 which generally wave about in search of floating 

 food, are for the moment tucked out of sight, and 

 the coral looks like a bare uninteresting stone. 

 After a moment's quiet, the countless feelers 

 spread forth again, and the coral shows that it is 

 alive. 



Years before these coral " insects " were born, 

 their forefathers and mothers were waving their 

 plumes, and doing just what this generation is 

 doing now, gathering mineral substances out of 

 the sea, taking the mineral into their own bodies 

 and forming it into solid coral, firm and hard as 

 rock. So, in generation after generation, the coral 



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