Part 10 (1/2)

As an artistic finish to a reen claws is carried a fragreen with the uishable until, in the faintest spas within itself becomes inanimate--as steadfast a patch of weeds as any other of the reef Recovering slowly froht, and conscious of the necessity for each detail of its equiprips the coral, and holding it aloft, glides discreetly on its way, invisible when stationary, most difficult to detect when it e youidly in a boat in a caled but a foot or so, and all the delicate filaments, which are invisible or lie flat and flaccid when the tide is out, are waving, twisting and twining, then the spectacle is at its best Tiny fish, glowing like jewels, flash and dart aly poise about so their nectar A pink translucent fish no greater than a lead-pencil wriggles in and out of the lemon-coloured coral Another of the John Dory shape, but scarcely an inch long, blue as a sapphire with gold fins and gold-tipped tail, hovers over a old, so yellow fila frorey, that ht swim in a walnut shell, displays its transparent char colours here are as coe of a reef there comes the fish of frosted silver, with hair like purple strea from the dorsal fin a foot and more behind Sorace, and others the diamond trevally (ALECTIS CILIARIS)

More frequently is seen ”the sleepy fish,” salht blue blotches and s, which remains motionless in the water, and so often awakens not until the spear of the hungry black is fast in its shoulders

Another handsoreen with blue wavy stripes and spots (FISTULARIS SERRATUS) has the shape of a gar-fish, and to counterbalance a long tubular snout, a slender fila the bare feather shaft of so from the tail

With all its fantastic beauty a coral reef is cruel Nearer the shore the stony blocks are overspread by ular skeleton-less coral, known as alcyonaria--partaking of the nature of rubber and of leather--an ugly, repulsive, tyrannous growth, over-running and killing other and more delicate corals, as undesirable pests crowd out useful and beco colours and forrey, bronze and yellow, brown and pink Loathso tide lays it bare, it beco when covered with calm, limpid water, and its dull life flourishes with star-like, living flowers

Before our coral garden was as familiar as it is, it was said that on one of the reefs of Dunk Island there reposed a colossal claiants of the variety known to science as TRIDACNA GIGAS So prodigious was the alleged specimen, that no one had been able to reested that the occupant of the island would easily beco -place has not been discovered, though all the reefs have been explored many times, nor do any of the natives know of its existence

Very few reefs, if all reports are to be credited, are without monstrous clams, but they seen to their bulk and stay-at-home character--when the time of anticipated capture approaches One up a little north was stated to be over 10 feet long, and to weigh at least a ton, and 14 feet was alleged to be the size of another But all disappear like will-o'-the-wisps when the search-party arrives on the scene, and none but ordinary specimens, that have no reputation to maintain, are there to flout the ardour of the collector

Circuarden of coral in Bra its lost loveliness, supplies an excellent field for the observation of some of the most wonderful of the processes of Nature Inreefs seem to be, of the Great Barrier

It would be an exhibition of hopeless vanity to attempt to describe the rotesque creatures low in the scale of life which are unceasingly at ithin ”coo-ee” The complexity of the subject from a scientific aspect is sufficient justification for reluctance to set down anything beyond casual experiences and personal observation, and the record of ever-recurring pleasure obtained froarden

Special attainments and varied lore must be at the command of the student ould attempt to classify the marvels of a coral reef of even limited scope When it is remembered that the Great Barrier Reef of Queensland--”one of the th of 1,250reefs extend as far from the coast as 150 miles; that soe distance of the outer edge from the coast-line is 30 raphical square miles, and that its corals, continuous and detached and isolated, tees of astonishment, wonder, and admiration

Subdued before such a vast phenoe by the reflection that industrious and skilled observers have years of study before them ere they come to know all the secrets of the Great Barrier

QUEER FISH

”A strange fish!+ Were I in England now (as once I was), and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool but would give a piece of silver”

Of curious and pretty shells there are so many varieties in these aters, that oneto attempt an enumeration even of the coerous thing” in this interesting branch of natural science, and therefore cannot pledge er to set forth a few of the objects of interest, which present theh uninformed observer of sea-beaten rocks, mud flats, coral reefs, and the open sea

Well may the dabbler despair when nine titles are necessary to catalogue the oysters alone--oysters which vary frohness (be it said) of the clam, to delicate ether, that they fores between severed rocks and shelves and cornices broad and massive; oysters flatter than plates, oysters tubular as service gas-pipes; the gold-lipped mother of pearl, the black-lipped mother of pearl, the cocksob the coral rock oyster, the small but sweet rock oyster, two varieties of the common rock oyster, besides the trap-door, the hammer, and another of somewhat similar shape whose official and courtesy title are both alike unknown, but which furnished knives and sharp-edged tools of various shapes to the original inhabitants of the island The gold-lipped mother of pearl is rarely found, favourable conditions for it--deep water and strong currents--not being general An occasional stray shell is picked up, and so far none has betrayed the presence of a valuable pearl The black-lip occurs on the reefs, but not in any great quantity, and the most plentiful variety of the edible oyster is bulky in size and somewhat coarse in flavour

Apart from the rarity and beauty of some of the denizens of the reefs, there are others that are singular and interesting, and some whose intimate acquaintance is quite undesirable, save from a scientific and safe standpoint A miniature marine porcupine decorates its slender spines of white with lilac tips, sharp as needles, brittle as spun glass, and charged with an irritant which sets all the nerves tingling

On the reefs uncouth fish pass solitary, isolated lives, in hollows and crevices of the coral, sealed up as are the malodorous hermits in rocky cells at Lhassa, and dependent for doles upon the profuse and kindly sea Their bodies seehly to the shape of the hollows to which each has grown accustos To obtain perfect specimens the mould must be shattered If the body does not yet fill the hollow, the inhabitant clings desperately to it, wedging itself onderful plasticity into odd corners and against niches, resisting to the last efforts at eviction Torn from its home the fish is a feeble, helpless creature, incapable of taking care of itself, quite unfit to be at large, though apparently belonging to the self-reliant shark family

More than one species of fish, it is said, inhabit these coral grottoes

A compact creature with prominent rodent teeth ejects a spurt of water when its retreat is approached at low tide, while about its front and only door are strewn (after the iants in the valley through which Christian of THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS passed) the shells of the crustaceans and molluscs it has devoured

Stones hide creatures of forbidding but varying shape and colour--dilossy black with brown edgings, pink with grey quarterings and grey fringe, whence radiate five sprawling slender ”legs,” a foot or so long Though doubtful in appearance, htmare than a reality of the better day, these are merely the shy and innocent brittle stars They are endoith such exquisitive sensitiveness that to evade capture they sacrifice, apparently without a pang, their wriggling legs piece by piece, and each piece, large or ss of one of the heroes of ”The Chevy Chase” were sht upon their stumps!”

The voluntary dismemberment of the brittle star may be even more pitiful--in fact almost complete, yet it still strives to pack away its forlorn body in some crevice or hollow of the coral rock It has been asserted that no one has ever captured by hand a brittle star perfect in all itsLondon journal recently, ”who thought that he had succeeded in coaxing a speci it dismember itself at the last moment, and asserts that the eye which is placed at the end of a liment!”

Here too, most of the ”brittle stars” are self-conscious to the point of self-obliteration But soh still quite worthy the specific title FRAGILISSMA, which science has bestowed upon the tribe, may, if taken up tenderly, be handled without the loss of a single limb, and a limb more or less can hardly be of consequence to a creature which, no greater than half a walnut shell, possesses five, each 12 or 14 inches long, and supplied with innues of those that have co the species, has been observed to behave in any way unbeco and most sensitive of creatures The brittle star discards its limbs, or the best part of them, in the meekest manner possible

To enumerate the smaller and lowlier of the many creatures that live on the coral reef would be a task utterly beyond ordinary capability The reader must be content with reference to a few of the more conspicuous of the denizens

THE WARTY GHOUL

Beware of the stone fish (SYNANCEIA HORRIDA), the death adder of the sea, called also the sea-devil, because of its houl because, perhaps, of its repulsiveness; the lion fish, because of its habit of lurking in secret places; the sea scorpion for its venom; and by the blacks ”Mee-hee” Loathso tufts and sprays of seaweed on its back, scarcely to be distinguished fro which it lurks, it is armed with spines steeped in the cruelest venoerous wounds, but none is to be ly and repulsive ”stone fish” Haply, it is co seaweed as it lies in ambush ready to seize its prey, or partially bury itself in the mud, it seldorunt of satisfaction it is i on a rock to be battered to pulp with its prototype--a stone

Utter destruction is the invariable fate of any stone fish detected in these waters, the belief of the blacks being that in default fatal effects folloound But a black who suffers the rare chance of contact fortifies his theoretical cure of pulverising the offending fish by i water for a whole day, the popular treatment for all venomous wounds As to the effect of the wound they say, ”Suppose that fella nail go along your foot, you sing out all a saa you swell up and juht you die” One boy described the detested creature--”That fella like stone Head belonga hied depression in the head, which conveys the idea that the bones have been staved in by a bloith a hammer

The stone fish resembles in character and habits the death adder Its disposition is pacific, it has no forwardness of te to irey rocks and a to escape detection

Unless it is actually handled or inadvertently trodden upon, it is as innocent and as harmless as a canary Why then should it be furnished with such dreadful weapons of offence? A full dozen of the keenest of spines, all in a row, extend from the depression at the back of the head towards the tail, each spine hidden in a jagged and uneven fringe, which, when the fish is in its natural eleuished froacity which accoe deceptive pluae to anchor themselves to its back