Scientific Intelligence — Zoology. 179 



11. Discovery of Coral Animals on the Coast of Massachusetts . — 

 Professor Agassiz, while on an oxpeditioii in one of the vessels of 

 the coast survey during the past summer, obtained by means of a 

 dredge, from a depth of seventy-two feet, in the Vineyard Sound off 

 Gay Head, several specimens of a coral with its animals. By great 

 care and attention they were preserved alive in glass jars for more 

 than six weeks, and afforded an excellent opportunity for an ex- 

 amination and observation of their structure and habits. These 

 corals belong to the genus Astrangia^ and have been named by 

 Professor Agassiz, in honour of Professor Dana, geologist of the 

 exploring expedition, Astrangia Dana- 



This species presents two varieties. Some are of a pink or rose 

 colour, others are white. The general form of the animal is a cylin- 

 der (as of all Polypi) resting on its base, and expanded on the upper 

 margin ; thus expanded it is about two lines in diameter. The 

 number of tentacles is definite, but it is not always the same abso- 

 lute number. It never exceeds twenty-four ; in earlier periods of 

 life there are only twelve, and there is even an epoch when there 

 are only six. 



It is, perhaps, a matter of surprise that the coral animal should 

 have been found in this latitude. They teem in the warm latitudes ; 

 but there are very few species in the more temperate regions, and 

 but for the opportunity afforded by the coast survey, the existence 

 of these animals could not have been suspected on these shores. 

 For many years, however, dead fragments had been found along 

 the shores ; but whether they lived there naturally or not had 

 not been ascertained. — American Annual of {Scientific Discovery ^ 

 p. 311. 



12. On the Circulation and Digestion of the Lower Animals. — 

 Professor Agassiz states, that the circulation of the invertebrata can- 

 not be compared to that of the vertebrata. Instead of the three con- 

 ditions of chyme, chyle, and blood, which the circulating fluid of the 

 vertebrata undergoes, the blood of that class of the invertebrata 

 which he had particularly studied, the annelida or worms, is simple 

 coloured chyle. The receptacles of chyle in different parts of the 

 body are true lymphatic hearts, like those found in the vertebrata ; 

 this kind of circulation is found in the articulata and mollusks, with 

 few exceptions, and in some of the echinoderms. In the medusse 

 and polyps, instead of chyle, chyme mixed with water is circulated ; 

 this circulation is found in some mollusks and intestinal worms. Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz thinks, that the embryological development of the 

 higher animals shews a similar succession in the circulating function. 

 As regards the connection between respiration and circulation in ver- 

 tebrata, the gills are found between branches of the blood system ; in 

 invertebrata, the chyliferous system is acted on by the respiration. 

 The gills of fishes, therefore, cannot be compared to the gills of Crus- 

 tacea, articulata, and mollusks. In fact, no gills are connected with 



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