the polyp, is left. It is very hard, being composed of carbonate of
lime, and will last for ages. The inside of this tree that we are
looking at is all dead coral, or corallum, while the flowers that are
on the outside of the trunk and branches are the living animals.

"Some kinds of coral polyps bud and extend in different directions,
and that accounts for the many wonderful shapes in which coral grows.
Some species divide in two, like the Anemones, but the majority live
in families, or colonies. There are coral reefs and coral trees, domes
and balls of coral, graceful vases, and all sorts and kinds of
different plants and odd growths.

"You know that living coral cannot exist above the surface of the
ocean, for exposure to the sun and air kills the polyps; yet it is
always growing upward and outward, the living animals making their
homes upon the tombs of their ancestors, so to speak, until they in
their turn perish and add their skeletons to the growing structure.

"The most wonderful of all coral is that found in the coral reefs,
which are so old that the most ancient fish in all fishdom, or his
great-grandfather before him, could not tell when they were begun; and
so hard and enduring that the storms of centuries have never been able
to destroy them. But strong as they are, the mighty ocean, (both
friend and foe to the coral), is still stronger, and in time the
constant washing and beating of the tides wear away portions of the
hard rock, changes the formation of the reefs, and helps in a large
measure in the making of the lovely coral islands. But still the coral
goes on growing, the living polyps protecting the dead coral below and
beneath, and then dying to make way for the next generation. And so
the coral holds its own in spite of the fury of the sea, and the many