Show I Reefs I iI t o iIo r Jt rY o 0 rs IS 4 cz o e p t poola pool s N a enk s temo Lap UP t d 0 t rd v r l iS 0 oat oate e P riles or m T TaI P e e 0 c w taro i I Fa DP P VIe l e em Ur 0 I b o Ie Mso o Weil 3 A Ms e it O I elfe Hen t ti r rI R Rest I I 1 ot ll ton 1 0 O ov qs a To oae Ga 0 elf le l d no 0 go Ol 0 a Tank j Y f p u GOnna OMI Torr t N 0 I IF T Tw F m man manN n f Aft t t t tt Qa l a I 0 0 C r Fa u zen rev j I T 7 TI u I J Fn eu 0 00 0 a I IMil 1 Mil a I 4 r O D t z W f s yhu Ud Uda a G ou oit eo ec Q 4 1 Au PAC P A C I 1 the IF thed I d C Ir S Amr I IA A N N I r n nt t Islands g Ilea q dl n nII II j Coo I T 7 e I r f Ir Fanek T nATure r ruTt w u F IS a 71 ConI Con real r c c I o or IJ 43 OAtt IW 00 If La Turk Islands Surrounded by Coral Reef by National Society wahington D C CWt O Wt U Service G the marvelous mar elous mysteries AMO A concealed by b the surface of the ocean are the vast stony structures structures tures built by the ceaseless ac tl lUes of the tiny coral animals that ply theIr trade In the warm arm waters aters skirting the continents and oceanic Is Islands Islands lands ot of tropic seas These 1 hese fragile lle fairylike creatures multIply by millions on tile the sea bottom and erect ca castles of limestone which rise turreted and domed among for of marble trees until they pierce the surface of the sei and lo 10 a 8 acol col COI 11 reef Is born 1 Coral reefs may grow In Isolated clumps or they may ma frine the tho beach close to the shore They often parallel the coast for miles forming a barrIer against the open sen sea and enclose a strIp of quiet water bet between een It and the mainland The longest barrier reef In the world Is the Great Barrier reef of Australia which parallels the eastern shore bhore of that continent for more than 1200 mIles enclosing a lagoon varying In width from se seen en to a hundred miles Most 1 barrIer reefs are arc located on the eastern side of the body of land which tho skirt facing the equatorial trade winds Consequently the sea outside is Iq dashed against the bar barller barm ller m her and breaks upon its serrated face faceIn facein In long rollers of white foam tn in strikIng lug Ing contrast to the smooth waters aters slier shel within the lagoon Jagoon In times of storm vessels that can mal make e the china chan nee nel find a haven but a far different I fate besets the craft driven en by the tempest upon the fi ont of the reef Those stern ramparts ts though erect erected erected ed by fairy of the utmost dell will CI u h and utterly destroy the proudest ship The finest reef In the West Indies borders the eastern shore ot of Andros Island in the Bahamas It Is some one hundred miles long and grows near the edge of a submerged cliff facing tile the trade n winds A short distance to windward tile the submarine precIpice plunges vertically more than thana a mile into the depths of the Tongue of the Ocean an arm of the sea pene- pene penetrating I the heart of the Bahlman archi archipelago pelago I Studied by Scientists On the sea floor outside this reef scientists made studIes of thin the barrier with a view to reproducing a portion of it In the Hall of Ocean Life In the American Museum of Natural History hew ew lord lorIc cit city making five trips for that purpose during the past ten Sears cars beginning bennIng In December 10 1923 3 The folIo following In summer with the aid of a submarine tube a chain hoist mounted on pontoons and diving bel helmets time the expedition obtained 40 tons of coral thou Dds of feet of undersea 1 motion pictures picture and many color sketches of the wonderful su submarine forest forestOn On three subsequent e equipped with Ith Ing helmets helmet under undersea sea e made malle careful studies of the living reefs of Andros and other Islands of tho Bahamas TI ey wan wandered an dued dered on the sea floor four fathoms below tile he surface through coral jun jungles Jungles of lImestone trees which spread their grotesquely Interlacing branches far above their heads peered Into vaulted n erns of eroded coral rock roch and threaded their way ay between fan fant t columns capped with domes of Olbicella coral which hleb rose like giant mushrooms about them Now and then they through arches of hiv 11 lag Ing coral corll buttressed with Ith contorted subsidiary gron growths and adorned with Ith brilliant enCI usting sponges ot of scarlet purple and green Inge e blue leered at them Ulem from shadowy corners c and gorgeous queen tl ti maje ly Iy Into ve view their kite shaped orange orange- und green een bodies slashed with Ith Irl irregular lar stripes of vivId azure The coral herds In the foreground fOI were ere alive e with clouds of small el ellow low fishes which flitted abou about t like lIle canary birds In a tropical and ery here sea bushes sea sen plumes and aud sea fans vv av n Ing b ick and forth above time the coral terraces In beautiful masses of soft rich color contributed a rhythmic rh play of stately motion to the tho scene How the DrIver Works Works- Time Tho magic ot of th the diving helmet un unlocks unlocks locks the tho wonders of this watery Para Pura- Ono One looks loohs over the side of a launch through wavelets like facets ot of ota ofa a liquid cr crystal atal so transparent that the white sand of the sea floor tour four fathoms below belo beloat at the end of the tho coral corll reef Is clear In every yet con continually oscillating In n apparent uric motIon The Tho dIver stands on the brass rope ropo ladder with the water lapping his shoulders On either side of tIle the gang gangway way ny above are the diving helmets erect on their ordered coils colIs of rubber tubIng whIch In turn are attached to the symmetrically placed long handled aIr pumps The copper helmet Is lifted by the handle on Its top The wearer leans forward the helmet Is lowered 0 over er his head and one of the pumps starts As the heavy weIghts beers down on his shoulders he hears henrs the comforting clank clank of the pump close to his ears tie lIe descends s the steps of the ladder and sees the surface water Iter climb up the WIndow before his e eyes es and vanish above his bis held Trio Tho undersea gardens are a perpetual perpetual ual wonder It is hard to realize as you gaze through the windows Vs of n a divIng helmet lit at the towering cles des of the reef and clamber In half half- floating leaps over the rounded heads of massive coral that rise In terraces to the water lter surface that these huge castellated ted structures wel were e erected through thin the vital Ital energy ot of such dell deli cite te coral pol polyps ps let there they are by the millions covering e erv square C CInch Inch ot of the growing coral Among the Living Polyps In the mellow lIght of the more pro protected protected areas arens their serried communItIes expand with outreaching feathery tentacles their mIniature mouth slits sUt petals of ani am ammal animal mal elS In pitches ot of stroner sunlight whole hole phalanxes are fiat to a mere investment of the underlying un- un underlying hard parts with ith thin gossamer films of 11 living Ing tissue often embossed with close set hemispheres marking the location of the contracted pol polyps ps The tapering ta tawny tany ny branches of the are arc crowded with e living forms while the waving gor rIsing to toward ard the sunlit wa water water ter surface In moving forest blO growths tbs of vertical show e a ich slew slen slender der subdivIsion limned as with a halo of translucent white or golden pol ps These myriads m of tiny es are the and s ot of the coral limestone structure as well liS as the horny supporting substance forming tho ne Ible I skeleton They lIley In with calcareous sea plants shell shelI bearing and protozoa are largely responsible for forthe forthe the Ing submerged lImestone bar tiers so perilous to navigators of trop tropIe is Ie seas c l Many varying specIes of cowl comai are associated to the community of the living 11 Ing reef What Is the secret of their man elous power po to multiply their kind the technique by which they construct their ts and the them themy m my source of their building materials Over O here hele on thIs f submerged ledge where the sunlight lances through the flickering waves aves n a beautiful lettuce coral Its clustered polyps pol ps like u nosegay of green and la lavender laender ender blos blossoms blo A half baIt doyen polyps with par partially united bodies each un an Inch or more In diameter compose the colony and display their mottled green reen and brow bro bron n shafts crow cro ned neel with flow fio dIsks of lavender h ender and gray flecked ed with Ith white The dh er dr drives m s nearer and looking through the windows Indo s of his diving helmet examines the cluster more closely closel Each CUch individual Is a c sac clowned with Ith a cIrcular disk In the center of which Is an 0 oval al almouth mouth slit A circlet of about forty eight slender e tentacles radl radi a from the edge ot of time the dIsk and con contrIbutes contributes trIbutes to the appeal appearance ance of the creature A dO en tentacles bend 0 over er from flom the margin of the tho first pol polyp p It touches and selye hold of It It struggles for foran foran an Instant find and then becomes limp Other tentacles reach over and grasp It fist filst from Crom one pol polyp p then another Neighboring mouths protrude their 0 oval at lips and start to engulf It pulling In opposite directions until the poor creatures creaturo's boll Is torn apart and the tho fragments are aro swallowed ed by the tho con contending contending tending mouths |