72 THE UNIVERSE. 



CHAPTEE II. 



ISLAND BUILDERS. 



Without our suspecting it, myriads of animals, more 

 numerous tlian the cloud of stars in the Milky Way, work 

 silently in the depths of the sea, and accomplish works the 

 bulk of which astounds us. Their erections, to which 

 sailors commonly give the name of coral banks, are some- 

 times raised with surprising rapidity, making some parts 

 of the ocean unnavigable, which vessels had previously 

 gone through under full sail. 



These submarine banks are only calcareous polypoids, 

 constructed by fragile animals not at all unlike very little 

 flowers, and which inhabit the innumerable little holes 

 wherewith the surface is spangled. But these obscure 

 artisans, as modest as they are laborious, frequently con- 

 ceal themselves from the eye; to see them we must have 

 recourse to the magnifying-giass. 



in certain plants. Some are only males; others carr)' only female organs; 

 lastly there are some which bear both sexes at the same time and are hermaphro- 

 dite. The eggs of the coral are spherical and of a milk white, and very soon 

 after they have issued from the body of the mother move about actively and 

 seek out a favourable site to plant themselves upon. 



Coral-fishing yields an ample return when properly carried on, coral being always 

 much sought after for the toilet, and commanding a high price. From official 

 returns it appears that on the coasts of Bona and La Calle only, 35,800 kilo- 

 grammes^ of the precious polypoid were fished up in the year 1853, which, sold at 

 the rate of 60 francs the kilogramme, would yield 2,148,000 francs, or about 

 .£8.5,920. 



' Amounting on a rough calculation to about 78,760 lljs., the kilogramme being computed 

 at 2 lb. 3 oz. 5. dr. avoirdupois. 



