skeletonless coral (ALCYONARIA) has a sulphurous savour of its own, and
the echini and beche-de-mer are also to be separately distinguished by
their fumes. Anemones, great and small, seem to disperse a recognisable
scent as from a mild and watery solution of fish and phosphorus. But of
all the occupants of the reef none are so powerful or so characteristic
in this respect as sponges. Puissant and aggressive, these exhalations
are at times so strong as to almost make the eyes water, while exciting
vivid reminiscences of old-fashioned matches and chemical experiments.
Substantial, wholesome, and clean--though generated by a wet, helpless
creature having no personal charms, and which, having passed the phase of
life in which it enjoyed the gift of locomotion, has become a plant-like
fixture to one spot--the gas mingles with other diffusions of the reef,
recalling villanous salt-petre and sheepdips and brimstone and treacle to
the stimulation of the mental faculties generally.

Invariably an afternoon's exploration of the coral reef is followed by a
drowsy evening and a night of exceptionally sweet repose. No ill dreams
molest the soothing hours during which the nervous system is burnished
and lubricated, and you wake refreshed and invigorated beyond measure. I
have endeavoured to account for the undoubted physical replenishment and
mental exhilaration largely from the breathing of air saturated with
emanations from the coral and sea things generally.

In the course of three hours' parade and splashing in the tepid water,
ever so many varieties of gas more or less pungent and vitalising--gas
which seems to search and strengthen the mechanism of the lungs with
chemically enriched air, to tonic the whole system, and to brighten the
perceptive faculties, have been imbibed. Exercise and the eagerness with
which wonders are sought out and admired may account in part for present
elation and balmy succeeding sleep, but the vital functions seem, if my