78 G O R G O N I A. 



thefe obfervations, that the figures of their fcales are 

 adapted by nature to fuit particular parts, as they are in 

 fnakes, lizards, and fifh. 



Befides the application of thefe fcales, or vitreous cor- 

 pufcles, to the ufe of an outward covering, Nature feems 

 to have adapted fome kinds of them to the forming the 

 harder parts within, as for inftance in the red Coral, 

 where, upon magnifying the flefhy part that was pre- 

 ferved in fpirits, I found it full of thefe vitreous red cor- 

 pufcles, reprefented highly magnified at fig. A. tab. 35. 

 Effay on Corallines ; but thefe were folid, and not hollow, 

 as I took them to be at that time. This hint I received 

 from Dr. Donati, who obferves, that the corpufcles, 

 which we find in the flefh of Red Coral, compofe the 

 hard part of it; being depofited on it by means of a pel- 

 licle full of minute vefTels that lies upon it, which con- 

 tain a whitifh juice. See Phil. Tranf. Vol. 47. p. 99. 



In the Gorgonia Briareus the hard part, or bone, is 

 compofed of beautiful purple glaffy fpiculae, lying length- 

 ways almoft parallel to each other, and united into a fo- 

 lid mafs ; and if we examine the flefhy part, we mall find 

 the fame kind of fpiculae lying irregularly and thinly dif- 

 perfed through the foft fubftance of it, moft probably for 

 the fame purpofe as in the Red Coral. The figures of 

 thefe corpufcles, when magnified, are not unlike cater- 

 pillars with many feet; fee PI. 14. fig. 2. As the Gor- 

 gonias, whofe hard parts are like wood, horn, or ftone, 

 depofit or produce a fimilar fubftance (which is their 

 bone) when they fpread their bafes on rocks and fhells ; 

 fo this G. Briareus depofits a layer under its flefh, con- 

 fifting of thefe vitreous purple fpiculae, which prove it 

 evidently to belong to this genus of Gorgonia, and not to 

 the Alcyonium, which contains no hard or bony parts. 



The 



