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Observatiajis an the Anatomy of the Corallina opuntia, and some 

 other species of Corallines^ By Professor Schweigger. 



Since the time of Cavolini no writer has examined the struc- 

 ture and economy of zoophytes with more attention than Pro- 

 fessor Schweigger of Konigsberg, (Anatomisch-physiologische 

 untersuchungen uber Corallen, Berlin 18J 9) He has made 

 himself acquainted with the observations and discoveries of his 

 predecessors and cotemporaries in every European language ; he 

 has carefully examined the animals in the living state with the 

 assistance of the microscope, during his extensive travels, parti- 

 cularly during his residence on the shores of the Mediterra- 

 nean ; and he has perused with equal care and minuteness the 

 collections preserved in the Museums of Great Britain, and of 

 the Continent, but more especially those of the late Sir Joseph 

 Banks, and of the Natural History Museum of Paris. The 

 doubtful nature of corallines he has made a subject of particu- 

 lar inquir3\ These singularly hard organized substances are 

 regarded as animals by most modern systematic authors, as 

 Cuvier, Lamarck, Bosc, Lamouroux. The experiments, how- 

 ever, and microscopical observations of Schweigger on their inter- 

 nal organization, add great probability to the opinions foimer- 

 {y entertained by Pallas, Spallanzani, Cavolini, and Olivi, who, 

 from their own observations on living corallines, regarded them 

 as plants. Schweigger'*s observations have been chiefly confined 

 to the Corallina opimtia, C. rubens, and C. officinalis. On the 

 6th of October he collected a portion of the C. opwitia Pal. on 

 the coast of the Mediterranean, between Nice and Villefranche, 

 growing on rocks from 1 to 3 feet under the surface of the sea ; 

 the specimens were of a bright green colour, and so very flexi- 

 ble, that one would have taken them at first sight for alcyonia. 

 The outermost divisions of the branches were for the most 

 part very small, transparent, and almost destitute of calcareous 

 matter ; others had a thin white covering, often confined to par- 

 ticular places, and were still flexible, though in a less degree. 

 The lowest portions of the branches appeared the oldest, both 

 externally and by their calcareous interior, and had the leathery 

 texture we generally observe in specimens of the C. opu7itia prc^ 



