their works among the continual attacks of the sea." As Pyrard de Laval
truly said, "It is a marvel to see each of these atollons surrounded on
all sides by a great bank of stone--walls such as no human hands could
build on the space of earth allotted to them.... Being in the middle of
an atollon, you see all around you this great stone bank, which
surrounds and protects the island from the waves; but it is a formidable
attempt, even for the boldest, to approach the bank and watch the waves
roll in, and break with fury upon the shore."

As to the explanation of the modes of formation of these coral-reefs,
the scientists have long been propounding theories which are sometimes
amusing. Strangely enough they have nearly all explained that
coral-polypes aggregate themselves in the forms of atolls and
barrier-reefs by a mysterious "instinct," mediocrity's only term for
screening its ignorance, and which is also given as the cause for their
secreting lime. Flinders says that they form a great protecting reef in
order that they may be protected by its shelter, and that the leeward
aspect of the reef forms a nursery for their infant colonies.

Thus we see that these same scientists are accrediting these little
architects with the possession of a great intelligence, and they are
thought to co-operate together in a manner expressive of the greatest
degree of efficiency and brotherly feeling. Each of these scientists
gives a theory that leaves untouched the essential question of the
causes for coral-reefs assuming their various shapes; and it is
reasonable to believe that they work according to a divine wisdom and
plan, and that mankind does not yet understand their strange ways, which
give us a higher conception of the universe than that held by the
ancients. Science has come to the point where it must recognise the
perfect unity of all life, and that our fellow-architects, engineers,
and house-builders in the animal world also fill an important place in
Nature's great scheme.

XI

FOOD CONSERVERS

_"He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."_

--COLERIDGE.

It can almost be said that there is no industry or profession of the
human world that is not carried on with equal skill in the animal world.
This is especially true of merchandising and store-keeping; an