G. GORGONIA. 195 



branches very close, and coiling one round (iic other ; 

 the latest-formed setaceous. 

 Indian Ocean. 



FAN-SHAPED. 



24. A^Tip \THES flabelfum. Stem flat, and branch- 

 ing ; branches and smaller branches fan-shaped, la- 

 teral, and anastomosed ; height from five to six deci- 

 metres. 



Indian Ocean. 



GORGONIA. 



Tree-like Polypidom, simple or branching; the 

 branches dispersed or lateral, single or anastomosed ; 

 axe longitudinally striated, hard, horny, and elastic, 

 or pithy (alhurno'ide) and brittle ; rind fleshy and ani- 

 mated, becoming chalky by desiccation; polypi not 

 rising above the rind, nor when dead forming more 

 than little tubercles or protuberances on the surface. 



These Polypidoms, by their size, the elegance of their 

 form, and the brilliant colours of their envelope, first 

 attracted the attention of Zoologists in the 1 7th and 

 18th centuries. With the assistance of the micro- 

 scope, which was unknown to their predecessors, 

 these revivers of the sciences discovered the polypi of 

 the Gorgonias ; but, either engrossed by former preju- 

 dices, or from the imperfection of their instruments, and 

 not extending their researches beyond the European 

 species, in general much smaller than those of a higher 



