454 Mrs. Thynne and Mr. Gosse on the Increase of Madrepores. 



and I have decided upon leaving my Madrepores in the care of 

 a servant, who I hope will follow my directions. As I am afraid 

 to trust her discretion in feeding them, I have desired the water 

 to be changed twice every day instead. They will no doubt find 

 plenty of sustenance in the water at this season. They are all 

 in excellent health, but much larger than any adult British 

 Madrepore. The mouth is now quite in the centre. 



22. June 20th. — I have returned to Tenby, and find the little 

 Madrepores quite well ; a further fission has taken place — several 

 of them have again subdivided into four ', and, from their ap- 

 pearance, I am convinced all might have done so, had they been 

 left to themselves; but the servant was so alarmed at their 

 " coming to pieces,'^ as she thought, that she surrounded them 

 with little pieces of rock, to keep them together. This was a 

 fatal mistake, as it prevented their having space to separate; 

 but it did answer the purpose she intended, — for some of them 

 in consequence divided only into two and others into three. I 

 make a drawing of one which has divided into three, and which 

 evidently shows the intention of nature (fig. 9) . 



23. However, I have many perfect specimens, and I hope 

 they will indicate what the others would have been. There are 

 at present no symptoms of their becoming fixtures ; but whilst 

 subdivision continues, I should suppose the period for doing so 

 cannot have arrived. In anything further I may have to relate, 

 I shall call those which divided into four, perfect specimens, and 

 the others imperfect ones. They are now more than twelve 

 months old. 



24. June 25th. — I have now a curious circumstance to de- 

 scribe : a perfect specimen had attached itself on one side to 

 one of the small pieces of rock the servant had placed to prevent 

 separation (on which account I did not remove it), and the oppo- 

 site side adhered to the main rock. The central part of the little 

 creature was unattached, and rather hollow. The mouth was 

 still quite on one side, and the new part, which had grown after 

 the last division, had not yet assumed the darker hue of the 

 older portion. By accident the little piece of rock had been 

 slightly moved, and the animal inconveniently stretched. It 

 did not detach itself from one end or the other, as 1 should have 

 thought it would have done, but immediately commenced sub- 

 division, first in the centre of the older portion, and then on each 

 side of the new part (fig. 10). In two days the process was com- 

 plete ; and I have now three perfect Madrepores for that indi- 

 vidual one ; one of them is composed entirely of the new part, 

 and is a complete speck, all pale in colour ; another is attached 

 to the loose piece of rock, and the other to the main rock. 



25. June 27th. — On a perfect specimen I find a gcmmule, a 



