The Durham daily globe., 1892-12-30
FORMATION OF CORAL
HOW THE POLYPS DO THEIR 81
LENT YET LASTING WORK.

Do Not Toll; They Simply Die-Beau-
tiful Animal Vegetables.
The term coral insect survive. in
literature. although science discarded it
long ago Possibly the idea Of toll"
and ''patiencs" aud building for the
future" as the lesson taught by the coral
insect, also survives 20 point moral and
adorn tale Of the same order a. one
praising the industry Of the ant or the
bee. Alas for old beliefs! Our grand
mothers were exhorted to reflect on the
vanity Of the moth and the butterfly.
Now it is known that the moth and
the butterfly are among the chief agents
by which the most beautiful and fra
grant flowers are fertilized, and that
honey and perfume and color and fruit
largely depend upon the energy of the
insects formerly despised. The other
so called insects have no more energy
than a simple vegetable existence. Their
toll is nothing greater than dying and
leaving their skeletons behind them
But how beautiful are these skeletons.
or conglomerated accumulation Of
myriads! And how beautiful and inter
esting, too. the animal vegetables, or
rather fowerlike animals. Sea ane1n-
ones" is the popular name given to the
whole tribe with their disklike mouths
their petaloid tentacles, their stomach
suggesting seed vessels and their fixed
bases corresponding TO stout stems, to
say nothing Of their brilliant colors.
rivaling the most gorgeous corollas ever
blown.
According 10 DR.. Gustav Eisen, there
are two kinds Of corals Of the sea anem-
ono order-those which produce coral,
that is. the hard, calcareous formation.
and those which DO not. The popular
term coral as applied to the accumu-
lated dead skeletons Of the dead pol Us.
is not strictly correct: coral, properly
speaking, refers also 20 the living ami
NAL.
The sea flower, although suggesting
plantlike structure, is still true ami
NAL. 1t has a skin, also rudimentary
nerves. 1t can seize with its tentacle.;
it can swallow and digest its food and
throw ont the refuse from its mouth; If
forcibly ejecting poison from its many
stings. 1t has some sensation. Quite
number Of species Of polyps have rudi-
,mentary eyes, arranged around their
circular edges like beads. The hardened
base of the see flower corresponds to
a skeleton in higher order Of animal.
even though in some anemones the hard
ness may only be relative.
Coral animals of the sea anemOns OF
der reproduce their lind in several ways
One is by ova, which develop perfect
pOlyps within the parent flower. An-
other mode is by budding; still another
by fission. In the latter method a new
mouth may form beside the old one in
the center of a fringed disk. which tien
divides into disks, each surrounded By
its own tentacies and each leading to its
own closed sac. In the budding process
branches are thrown ont. from which
spring new polyps. Tear one polyp TO
pieces. and eseh Yiscs mav Ssproducs
all the parts it needs to form fresh
polyp.
The familiar tree coral is the result
Of the budding process. The branches
which the living polyps have mounted.
The singular ConvulutioHs in brain
coral" were caused by fission, one mouth
giving rise TO strings Of others, which
never completely separated from each
other, and go left a continuous line Of
stony skeletons. 1t must not be sup
posed, however. that Eoophytes Of the
style Of sea anemOnes ere the only coral
prOducers Some calcareous secretioLs
are left by animals related to the me-
dusp, or ieliyfish. Other corais come
from the bryoEoans. which look like pol
Ups. but really belong TO the subking
dom of mollusks. Tho bottom Of the
sea is largely covered with deposits fror'
such animals. 1t is even believed that
in early times they made pp the greater
part Of limestone strata. Mention muat
also be made Of the beautiful and bril-
liant corallines, or vegetable corals, cal
careous seaweefs, which look like red,
white and yellow branched coral. but
which. properly speaking. are algae.
Corals OF some kinds are found in ali
seas Those stony formations pOpularly
called corals are mostly produced within
the tropics Probably the variety beet
known is the red or pink coral, long es-
teemed for ornaments. This was found
in the Mediterranean from a very early
period. Now, however, it has become
so rare as to be practically extinct.
The specimens of coral seen III rnu-
seums and private collections are of
course masses Of dead skeletons. Hard
as rock they are, as might be expected.
when it is remembered that the famous
reefs of Florida and the Pacific islands
are built mp Of them-no credit to the
| animals. however, despite the old tale.
Yet if the antiquated moral be lost. the
study Of the calcareous formation IL
none the less interesting.
There is the fungus coral, . dull gray
in color and shaped somewhat as the
umbrella of n mushroom, with ridges
running from the long nouthlike center
to the edge. The lace coral, OF pure
white, with delicate wheels, indicates
| the radiate structure Of each animal