The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-11-26

1
4 growing on muddy bottom inside theIree1
! in the harbors, Nestled in among the
branches are myriads of beautiful brittle
stars To1,hiu7u with sott-looking feathery
rays, and one may collect with great ease
hundreds of specimens, not only of these but
of r7ustaceozs, &c, by breakir g to pieces the
coral but beware! There are prickles
among these roses, for among the beautiful
marine worms that Irvine there Indecent bod
les among the coral branches or expand their
soft, plumy, brilliant tenacle crowns on their
surface-sensitive flowers that vanish before
the hand-there is a worm, wose locomo-
tive apparatus consists of tufts OF fine Slice
GUS hairs, arranged in rows along the sides.
| When the animal is irritated, these bristle
out in every direction. I once ran my fin
| gers against one of these worms in picking
| up a coral, and feeling an intense burnir G
sensation, found these fine spicule attach
ed to the ends of my fingers, looking like
little tufts of fine cropped white silk. But
enough of the disagreeables. Inside the
reef, about three feet of water and growing
on soft, black, oozy bottom, are found
clumps of slender branching, few and large
curled coral [0culiaa of a dark brown tint,
and resembling coarse brown moss Old
| glass bottle, iron chains, sticks of timber
and stones are coated with corals. On the
eastern side of the cove the water is very
quiet, and the bottom, which is unencum-
bered, is composed of soft ooze; here I col
lected, in from two to three feet of water,
some very pretty corals, of species whose
name cannot recollect at this Moment
They are small, irregularly conical corals,
with few continent and convoluted cells.
These grow over the mud, point down
ward, attached to some hard substance, but
" ali oh hDt them
up by the dozen like pebbles. In the water
they resemble pale, white flowers strewed
over the bottom. sometimes they are light
emerald tinted but as soon as they are
brought out of the water the animals shrink
up, the colors change, and in a few moments
they are of dull brownish color. Well, I
should want halfa dozen columns if should
90 on in this way to mention the many in
teresting things collected; but it may not
be uninterestlng to add few words on the
structure and character of corals.
doubt not that very many of my readers
have seen the beautiful animal flowers, some
times on exhibition in the Aquaria at Bar
NUNS Museum, beautiful marine creatures
like animated pinks. Naturalists call them
sea anenaOnes, and they place them in a class
called p0(yps. The sea 0nenl0ne has no Skcl-
eton, and the body is soft; but there arc
somewhat like plants, and which form colo
MES or families of sometimes hundreds of
thousands of individuals all of which are
firmly and permanently united together. In
each one of these alimals grows a large stony
skeleton, and all the skeletons are united to-
gether Now let the animals die, the COM
pound skeleton remains, preserving the shape
of the colony or family, while the position
of the body of each polyps is marked by
CELL
This dead skeleton. cleaned of its animal
matter and bleached, is the coral we see so
often as mantel piece ornament. There are
very many beautiful superstitions and fables
atloat in popular natural history, which, ac-
cepted as truth, have become classic, but
which, one after another, have been explo-
ded. Such is the fable of the nautilus,
which to the naturalist no longer floats its
paper bark on the sea, unfurls its broad sails,
and rides the wave propelled by its many
oars. No naturalist believes that coral
islands arc built up mysteriously from the
deep sea bottom, the work of curious insects,
just as the comb is the work of the bee
He knows that the coral is the skeleton of an
animal, which is just as different from an in
sect as we ourselves are. He gives no more
credit to the coral polyps for constructing
his cell, than he accords to himself for the
growth OF his bones within him. Still, the
islands built slowly up by the accumulation
of dead coral Skeletons remain to us as USE
ful a lesson as ever to teach the value of
unlon and the mighty results to be achieved
by perseVcring labor, the results of each
hand or brain stroke, as small as that of the
drop patterlng on the stone.
Long ere it was time TO return to the ship,
my boat was uncomfortably full of my treas
oh oil II
water, with tropical sun scorching your |
back, may be all very nice for while; but
some fragrant tamarind trees beckoned me ON |
shore and | stretched myself out under their |
grateful shade, and looked over the hillside |
at the strange vegetation that met my eve.
Among the Towering shrubs and trees of |
these islands one secs the fan-shaped leaves
OF pretty little palmetto. Enormous cac-
fuses and prckly pears are scattered through
the chamber about among the rocks, while
the tall chandelier, like Towering stems and
bayonet shaped leaves OF a kind of century
plant, are very conspicuous. Yonder is a
grove OF cocoa-nut palms, while on the out
skirts OF the town glisten the huge torn
leaves OF the banana. Strange insects are
humming about, and bright eyed lizards
dart about among the dried leaves.
St. Thomas appeared to be composed of
rocks much disturbed and in
tersected by trap dykes. On the main land
near the reef on the seward side, are seen
the bluff beds of Il very hard silicious rock,
which appears to be kind of syenite. The
beds have an approximate strike of N. E.
OF dip OF 20 deg. n. w.
THE FATAL FLowER.-Travellers who
visit the Falls of Niagara are directed to a
spot on the margin of the precipice over the
boiling current below, where a gay young
lady, few years since, lost her life. She
WAS delighted with the wonders of the I'M
rivalled scene, and ambitious to pluck a
lower from cliff where no human hand had
before ventured, as a memorial of the cata-
ract and her own daring. She leaned over
the verge and caught glimpse of the surg
ing waters far down the battement of rocks.
while fear for a moment darkened her excl
.ed mind. But there hung the lovely BIOS
som upon which her heart was fixed; and
she leaned, in delirium of intense desire
md anticipation, over the brink. Her arm
was outstretched to grasp the beautiful
form which charmed her fancy, the turf yield
I'd to the pressure of her feet, and with a