200 CLASS III.—ORDER II. 



rise to many metres in height. If we may judge from 

 tiie axe of some unknown Gorgonias I have had the 

 opportunity of examining, and whose diameters have 

 exceeded five centimetres (about two inches), their 

 size must be enormous in the equatorial seas, from 

 whence these Polypidoms originate. 



The Gorgonias inhabit all seas, and are always found 

 at considerable depths : I do not imagine they could 

 exist in those places that are covered and uncovered 

 by the tides. Like other Polypidoms, they are larger 

 and more numerous between the tropics, than in the 

 cold or temperate regions. No use either in art or 

 medicine has yet been made of them ; they have hi- 

 therto only been sought as objects of curiosity, and as 

 ornaments to cabinets of natural history. 



SECTION I. 



Polypi in the interior, and not projecting ; rind smooth, 

 very rarely channelled or furrowed. 



TWO-EDGED. 



1. GoRGONiA anceps. Panicled, and nearly dicho- 

 tomous ; branches flattened like a sword with two 

 edges ; polypi on the sides. 



Seas of Europe and America. 



PINNATED. 



2. GoRGONiA pinnata. Stem branching, and al- 

 most compressed ; pinnated, and marked with one or 



