POLYPES. 227 



clumsy apparatus, as our readers will easily con- 

 ceive, a great quantity of coral would be lost, were 

 it not sought for immediately afterwards by divers, 

 which is generally the case. This fishing or 

 dredging generally takes place at a depth varying 

 from sixty to eighty feet, but coral is sometimes 

 dredged for and taken at upwards of one hundred 

 feet below the surface of the sea. 



In Europe, particularly at Marseilles, coral is 

 manufactured into a great variety of ornaments ; it 

 is also largely dealt with in the East, in India and 

 Africa, where it is employed to ornament weapons, 

 for jewels, chaplets, etc. When the Arabs bury any 

 of their relatives, they always place in the dead 

 person's hand a chaplet of coral. 



In Europe coral used also to be employed in 

 medicine, but it has been found that a little lime- 

 stone serves the same purpose. It is extensively 

 used for jewellery, and is also made into tooth- 

 powder. 



In 1852, the quantity of red coral imported from 

 Italy to Liverpool amounted to 120 Ibs. ; in 1854, 

 146 Ibs. arrived. 



There exist four species of coral-like animals 

 belonging to the genus Isis (which has been sepa- 

 rated from that of Gorallium), one of which, Isis 

 hippuris, know as Articulated coral, is abundant in 

 many seas. Its polypidom is composed of calca- 



