494 — Mr. SrurcusUun on the Growth of young Corals 
that in the young state they are fixed sometimes to rocks, and 
frequently to the dead remains of one of their own species. In 
this state they grow upon a footstalk, and generally remain at- 
tached till they acquire the size of nearly an inch in diameter, 
when they separate at the top of the peduncle*. 
At this time the coral, when divested of the fleshy part, shows 
a circular opening beneath, through which the radiating plates of 
the upper surface are visible. In a short time a deposit of coral 
matter takes place, which cicatrizes the opening, the marks of 
which however can be traced for a considerable time; at length 
the increase of this deposit, which continues with the growth of 
the animal, entirely obliterates all appearance of it. It will not 
appear surprising that this circumstance should hitherto have 
been unnoticed, when it isrecollected that it has very rarely 
occurred to naturalists to visit the places of their growth, and 
that to general collectors the smaller specimens would appear 
hardly worth the trouble of preserving and bringing home. 
The sheltered situations in which the Fungie are found are 
peculiarly well adapted to their nature, as they would be liable 
to injury if they were exposed to the full force of a stormy sea; 
and the circumstance of their being attached in the young state 
is a beautiful provision of Nature for their preservation at that 
— as from their "hehe: nei when first ruere they 
* The following is cd from my J saree? written at the time. 
“Thursday, January 4, 1827.—This day went to the reefs with two natives to col- 
lect some specimens of the Madrepora fungites. Succeeded in obtaining one specimen, 
which illustrates a fact respecting their growth. This is a dead coral having a number 
of young living corals attached to it by a pedicle : thus it appears that, when very young, 
they are attached until about the size of a shilling’; you may then perceive a line of 
demarcation, at which mark the larger ones are easily separable, the lower portion 
being dead. Thus it would appear that an action takes place similar to sloughing, 
the larger corals of this genus having no trace left of attachment. These corals appear 
to inhabit very shallow water.” 
would, 
iilo M M LL ME qut 
iine egg res celeron nn it EP ENR RE 
