CHAPTER IV.

CORAL AND THE CORAL FISHERIES.

Scientific description of coral-Varieties of Commercial classifications of coral -Statistics of trade in France and England-Seats of manufacture in Italy-Various coral fisheries in the Mediterranean-Statistics of boats employed-British imports of coral-Indian trade in coral.

SCIENCE and commerce frequently work hand in hand, and materially aid each other; but in some instances commerce has been in advance of science, and this may be said of the search for coral and its application for ornament, which have been prosecuted for ages by the uninformed, whilst learned naturalists have been debating many moot points as to the growth, formation, and special localities of the coral varieties.

Our scientific men are busy dredging and exploring the great depths of the ocean, but they have as yet thrown little light on those questions which are of paramount importance to the fishers for and workers in coral-as, for instance, why the important banks of good coral are limited to the Mediterranean Sea, and what are the requirements of these polypes for the aggregation and formation of this now much sought for article of commerce. As I remarked in a lecture delivered before the Society of Arts a few years ago, we are still ignorant on many points of the highest

importance relating to the production and collection of this handsome substance. The little that we do know, however, leads to the belief that the growth of coral is rapid; that

its development is simple, and accommodates itself to very varied circumstances; that detached fragments from the bunch or principal stem have a vitality, and will voluntarily attach themselves to certain fixed substances, for continuing their development and forming new trunks; in fact, objects thrown into the sea in the vicinity of coral banks will infallibly be found covered with coral in a few months. But what is most valuable to be known in regulating the search for coral, and for rendering the return more productive and more certain, is to ascertain at what age coral attains its largest size; how long it takes for an exhausted coral bank to again become rich and flourishing; at what period the eggs are laid; how are the products disseminated; at what period does the budding take place, and how long does it last? These are most important questions, on the solving of which rests the complete regeneration and progressive increase of the coral fishery, and they are questions as yet unsolved by naturalists.

Professor Lacaze-Duthiers, who was charged with a mission to the coast of Algeria to report upon this zoophyte, has given us the results of his investigation and curious experience :

"To describe correctly," he says, a branch of coral, we must bear in mind the peculiar property of germination which belongs to the immense class of zoophytes, and we can then consider it as a colony of individuals derived from one zoophyte, itself originating from an ovum or egg.

"The stem of the coral is divisible into two constant and distinct parts: a central axis, hard and brittle, like stone, which is the part used in commerce, and a soft covering or epidermis, which easily yields to the nail when it is fresh, but is friable or brittle when dry.

"This epidermis appears indented by small cavities. upon its surface, and we can often perceive radiated pores corresponding to these cavities. In observing the live coral, we see that out of these holes protrude the little flowers that the naturalists Maligny and Peissonnel recognized as the animals, and which they compared to small seanettles.

"Nothing can equal the delicacy and graceful disposition of these little milk-white rosettes, which contrast admirably with the brilliant red of the coral.

"Their arms, which surround their mouths, are ciliated, or covered with fine fringes, which, ever moving and agitating the water, create a circular current that carries to the centre, and consequently into their mouths, the minute matters that sustain them.

"The epidermis is composed of a very delicate white tissue, and presents through its whole thickness the long cavities of the polypes. It is traversed by canals, which are very numerous, and establish a solidity between all parts, sprinkled with small calcareous corpuscles, hard, resisting, and all armed with unassailable bundles of points, having a special form.

"The structure of the animals is otherwise very simple; they present the appearance of a pocket or of an open purse. The mouth is surrounded with arms, and conducts to the central or penetrating cavity the food, and there we find eight lamillæ radiating towards the centre."

There are various kinds of coral, so-called, to be met with in the shops of shell-dealers and naturalists sold under the name of fan coral, brush coral, brainstones, etc., which serve for ornamenting chimney-pieces, cabinets, museums, drawing-room tables, aquaria, etc. Such, for instance, as the white coral, formerly called Madrepora

virginea, and now named Oculina virginea, the brainstone coral (Mendrina cerebriformis), the black coral (G. Antipathes), and the organ-pipe coral (Tubipora musica), which takes its name from the regular arrangement of its cylindrical dark crimson tubes side by side. Being much cheaper than the ordinary solid red coral, this last kind is frequently used as a representative of coral in cabinets of economic products.

But it is with jeweller's coral that we have to deal, which is alone used for articles of personal decoration and works of art. Occasionally the red coral is found white,

or without any colouring matter; the tips are bored, and the pieces are threaded into negligées, or they are cut into links for forming chains. At the Naples Maritime International Exhibition a magnificent branch of black coral from Trapani was shown, which formed a finish to the trophy of aboriginal arms and weapons exhibited from the Pacific. At Jedda there is a black coral fishery which extends fifty miles north and south. From taking a fine polish, the black is fashioned into beads and mouth-pieces