166
THE SRAS
Laccadive Islands o the south of India, and of far less
-
importance in others.
Their chief… rôle in reef formation
probablÿconsists of forming & kind of cement which binds
‘
together the masses of coral in the cracks of which collects
Sand, formed by the breaking up ofthecoral and from the
tiny càlcareous skeletons of the Foraminifera, all being
covered over With & rm crust of calcareous weed.
An im,
portant centre of rock formation is frequently provided by
the giant clams,
which grow on the
surface of the reefs and have shells
three
feet
more
than an inch— thick.,
_.
j
,
‘
_or lat—er the c'ora.ls die, citen_ as -a result. of the
accumulation of silt
debris, though sometimes. the
atteigcks of & lamentous
at other times ex—
_
ceptional freshenmg of…sea watenin;
.
as_le.goons, cause the… death Jef, great…nuarbers of c0ràls.
are alwaysfbored: into by a: number of
and species of Piddock (_P]zolas),
’
-
described; in
last
and also a_by… many kinds-_ ;:of
Worms—andsponges, but—their action,; be‘:Çàusmg—the _Corêïs
m
vstrengthen… ëtheit. ;SkÇlGt9ns,
_
_
than the reverse—; = Ip; ih©‘iR£î@
.QËhCF
a
WhîÇ]â
,
.
offrpieiœs«
Œhe‘se:
w1th :sthe….z-WzarîouS…
-
,
,
madethemhave «died
-
the
of living tissue
d15appeared
_
actmn0fthewaveS)
“
‘
,
'
; ImportantpamthlsProcesswhereby comlskelef0nsaæ '
_;
‘
parüoularthelarge .
9