760 



The Living Animals of the World 



rhoiohy W. SavUk-Ktit.t, F.Z.S., ilil/onl-on'Sei: 



POETIOX OP A STAG'S-HORX CORAL. 



Each minute circuLir cell represents tie situ; 



tion in life nf a ^niall sea-anemone-like animal, 1 



c.ial-polyp. 



stated, differs in no respect 

 from a sea-anemone, except- 

 ing for the possession of a 

 calcareous skeleton secreted 

 within its basal tissues, includ- 

 ing jDortions of the mem- 

 branous radiating partitions. 

 Some coral-animals, like tlie 

 majority of tlie Anemones, are 

 solitary, and form single attached 

 or loosely lying corals. Tlie well- 

 known ]\lusnH00M-C0RAL is one 

 of the latter. One s])ecies 

 observed, which was photographed 

 through the water liy the writer 

 as it lay expanded in a tide- 

 pool on tlie Australian Great 

 Barrier Reef, might easily be 



its trojiical allies. The Australian coast jDroduces giant 

 species which may measure no less than from 18 inches 

 to 2 feet across their expanded disks. These giant 

 anemones are further interesting on account of the cir- 

 cumstance that they are self-constituted " harbours of 

 refuge " to sundry species of fishes and crabs, which 

 nestle among their tentacles like birds in a leafy bower. 

 The anemones are themselves bright in colour, but the 

 associated fishes are even more so. In an example which 

 was photographed by the writer on the Western Australian 

 coast, the anemone was oli\'e-green, with the tips of the 

 tentacles bright mauve. The fishes, of which three examples 

 were present, were brilliant orange-scarlet with white 

 bands. In addition to the fishes a small flat-clawed crab 

 shared the sheltering hospitality of the anemone. Some 

 of the tropical coral-reef-frequenting anemones, which have 

 their tentacles lieautifully branched, must be cautiously 

 handled, in consequence of their notable stinging proper- 

 ties. All sea-anemones and corals are, in fact, provided 

 with peculiar stinging-cells, with which they benumb and 

 thus make an easy capture of the living organisms on 

 which they prey. While the majority of the sea-anemones 

 live single or individually separate lives, there are some 

 which form aggregations or colony-stocks of numerous 

 units. These compound growths are brought about by 

 repeated budding, or the sub-division or fission, without 

 complete separation, of an originally single individual. It 

 is by a similar pjrocess of recurrent sub-division that the 

 wonderful fabrications of the coral-polyps are built up. 



An ordinary coral-animal or polyp, as previously 



[MiJ/oi\l-on-Sco. 



Flwlubii W. HarUlc-Kint, F.Z..S.] 



A CLUMP OP STAG'S-HORN CORAL. 

 The life-colou)'s of this coral are a delicate cream with brilliant magenta tips, 



