GARDEN OF CORAL 133 



The congested state of a coral reef, and the inevitable 

 result thereof — perpetual war of species and shocking 

 cannibalism — have been referred to. Another result of the 

 overcrowding has yet to be mentioned. Possibly there 

 may be those who are disinclined to credit the statement 

 that some of the denizens take in lodgers. But the fact 

 remains. Having ample room and to spare within their 

 own walls, they offer hospitality to homeless and unpro- 

 tected strangers, whom graceless Nature has not equipped 

 to take part in the rough-and-tupble struggle for exist- 

 ence outside. A tender-hearted mollusc {jinnd) accepts 

 the company of a beautiful form of mantis-shrimp — tender, 

 delicate and affectionate — which dies quickly when removed 

 from its asylum, as well as a singular creature which has no 

 charm of character, and must be the dullest sort of lodger 

 possible to imagine. It is a miniature eel, which looks as 

 if it had been drawn out of rock crystal or perfectly clear 

 glass. There is no apparent difference between the head 

 and the tail, save that one end tapers more gradually than 

 the other. Very limited power of motion has been be- 

 stowed upon it. It cannot wriggle. It merely squirms in 

 the extremity of laziness or lassitude. These two keep the 

 pinna company — the lively shrimp, pinkish brown and 

 green with pin-point black eyes, and the little eel as bright 

 and as transparent yet as dull and insipid as glass. One 

 of the oysters attracts the patronage of a rotund crab, which 

 in some respects resembles a tick, and a great anemone a 

 brilliant fish — scarlet and silver defined with purple hair lines 

 — which on alarm retires within the ample folds of its host. 



The flowers of a coral reef live. A bouquet of lavender- 

 coloured, tender, orderly spikes has a gentle rhythmical, 

 swaying movement. A touch, and by magic the colour is 

 gone — naught remains but a dingy brown lump on the rock, 

 whence water oozes. Another form of plant-like life takes the 

 colour of rich green — the green of parsley, and faints at the 

 touch, as does the sensitive plant of the land. Another strange 

 creature, roughly saucer-shaped, but deep grey mottled with 

 white and brown, continuously waves its serrated edges and 



