p. 204

Coral.

Coral rocks abound in the [[Indian]] seas, some Islands are
wholly formed of coral. The work of a small worm . The Eastern
shores of [[Australia]] have hundreds of miles of coral rising straight
up from the bottom of the sea. There are numerous species of
[zoophytes?] as the little animals are [terminal?], engaged in the construction
of those coral banks, and they appear to obtain their building
materials wholly from the water. there are fan corals, tree -
corals, mushroom corals [etc. etc. ?] I obtained a few specimens
one or two of which were red. Coral attributes are beautifully
set forth in the following -

The Coral Grove

Deep in the waves is a coral grove,
Where the purple mullet and the gold-fish rove,
Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with the falling dew,
But in bright and changeful beauty shine,
Far down in the green and glassy brine.
The floor is of sand, like the mountain drift
And the pearl-shells [spangle?] the [flinty?] snow ;
From coral rocks the sea-plants lift -
Their boughs, where the tides and billows flow.
The water is calm and still below,
For the winds and the waves are absent there,
And the sands are bright as the stars that glow
In the motionless fields of upper air ;
There with its waving [shades?] of green.
The sea-flag waves through the silent water
and the crimson leaf of the [dulse?] is seen,
To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter.
There with a light an easy motion
The fan-coral sweeps through the clear deep sea ;
And the yellow and scarlet tufts of ocean
Are bending like corn on the upland [lea?] ;
And life in rare and beautiful forms
Is sporting amidst those bowers of stone.

Percival
[underscore]