THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



61 



shrub only made its appearance in this indurated form be- 

 cause it became suddenly petrified when brought into con- 

 tact with the air, as it issued from the waves. 



The sagacious traveller Tournefort gained in respect to 

 coral no additional knowledge from his wanderings in the 

 East, the native land of this celebrated substance. He also 

 took it to be a plant, and even had it engraved under this 

 heading in one of the plates of his magnificent work. It is 



24. Branched Coral : Caryophillia ramea. 



there placed in the twenty-second class of the vegetable 

 kingdom, in the section which he entitles " of the marine or 



