GARDEN OF CORAL 133 



and then a snap and spurt of water as the last remnant of 

 the living mantle disappears between the interlocking valves 

 of porcelain white. 



Apart from the bulk and the fantastic shapes of coral 

 structures, there is the beauty of the living polyps. That 

 which when dry may have the superficial appearance of 

 stone plentifully pitted — a heavy dull mass — blossoms with 

 wondrous gaiety as the revivifying water covers it. The 

 time to admire these frail marine flowers is on an absolutely 

 calm day. All the sediment of the sea has been precipitated. 

 The water is as transparent as rock crystal, but like that 

 mineral slightly distorts the object unless the view is 

 absolutely vertical. It is a lens perfect in its limpidity. 

 Here is a buff-coloured block roughly in the shape of a 

 mushroom with a flat top, irregular edges, and a bulbous 

 stalk. Rich brown alga hangs from its edges in frills and 

 flounces. Little cones stud its surface, each of which is the 

 home of a living, star-like flower, a flower which has the 

 power of displaying and withdrawing itself, and of waving 

 its fringed rays. Each flower is self-coloured, and may 

 represent a group of animals. There are blues of various 

 depths and shades from cobalt to lavender, reds, orange 

 and pinks, greens, browns and greys, each springing from 

 a separate receptacle. All are alike in shape — viewed 

 vertically, many-rayed stars ; horizontally, fir-trees faultlessly 

 symmetrical in form and proportion. These flowers all 

 blossom, or trees, or stars, are shy and timorous. A splash 

 and they shrink away. The hope of such wilderness — as 

 barren-looking as desert sandstone — ever blossoming 

 again seems forbidden. Quietude for a few moments, and 

 one after another the flowers emerge, at first furtively but 

 gathering courage in full vanity, until the buff rock becomes 

 as radiant as a garden bed. 



Upon coral blocks, which represent the skeletons of 

 polyps in orderly and systematic profusion, other creatures 

 more highly organised appear, having in one feature a 

 family likeness to the polyps, upon whose hospitality they 

 impose, that is, if the setting up of an establishment on the 



