ANTIPATHES. 



97 



thefe are difpofed in rows on the angles of the branches, 

 and feem to bend one over the other. 



IX. ANTIPATHE S. 



ANTIPATHES, commonly called 

 Black Coral, 



Animal crefcens plants 

 Jacie. 



Stirps intus cornea, fpi- 



latincfa, verrucis polypife- 



rts ob 



duel, 



a. 



Ovaria incerla, nijtovu- 

 la ex polypis, fcut in Gor- 

 go/iiis, Alcyoniis^ &c. 



Is an animal growing in the 

 fhape of a plant. 



The ftem is hornv in the 



j 



nulis exiguh cbfita, baji infide, befet with very fmall 

 explanata, extus came ge- fpines, and fpread out at the 



bafe. The outfide is covered 

 with a gelatinous flefh, full of 

 warts, from whence the po- 

 lypes extend themfelves. 



The ovaries are uncertain, 

 unlefs the little eggs proceed 

 from the polypes, as in the 

 Gorgonias, Alcyoniums, &c. 



It appears from the old botanical writers, that the feve- 

 ral forts of Black Corals were formerly called by the name 

 of Antipathes ; but as the characters of thofe marine bo- 

 dies were not fo exactly looked into then, as they are now 

 in this prefent inquifitive age, fome of the Gorgonias, 

 whofe horny internal parts are black, were probably in- 

 cluded amon^ft them. 



That they were not only ufed as fceptres for princes, 

 but likewife for divining rods, and other fuch purpofes, 

 is clear from Salmafius's remarks to Solinus, wherein he 

 lays, that Antipathes denotes fomething proper to refift 

 incantations, and that they were ufed for that purpofe by 



O feveral 



