26 HISTORY OF ZOOPHYTOLOGY. 



another, that they cannot separately exist, and therefore have 

 not hesitated to call them constituent parts of the same body, 

 and that the polvpe-like suckers are so manv mouths belon^infir 

 thereto. 



" Now, forthesmallnessofthe pores, which the Doctor has men- 

 tioned here (among the Corallines) to be a contradiction to ani- 

 mal life ; he certainly has forgot one circumstance, when he in- 

 troduces the CoralHum pumiluni album, (Essay Cor. t. 27. f. c.) 

 or his Millepora calcarea (Pall. Elench. p. 265,) as an animal, 

 which is, that he there says, it has absolutely no pores at all. 



" As there can be no doubt, but every part of what is called 

 Coralline is necessary to make out such an animal, or beinof, it 

 will be very difficult, if not almost impossible, to determine the 

 proportion there ought to be between softer and harder parts ; 

 and therefore it cannot be thought unreasonable to say, that in 

 some of this tribe the stony parts are by much the greater part 

 of the whole, especially as Doctor Pallas's objection can be only 

 against the crust, or lapidescent part, as the inside of many of 

 them is far from being hard, being exactly like a Sertularia, so 

 that I do not know if it would not be a good definition to one 

 well acquainted with that tribe to say, a Coralline is a Sertula- 

 ria, covered with a stony or calcareous crust ; if the mouths 

 should happen to be very small, their number may make up that 

 deficiency. We see in the greatest number of corallines their 

 surface full of holes ; we saw the same in Escharas and Mille- 

 poras thirty years ago ; since that time magnifying glasses have 

 been improved, so as to shew us, that they are all orifices for 

 polype-like suckers ; why should not we now admit that glasses 

 may be still more improved, so as even to make us able to see 

 what may be the intention and use of these minute orifices, which 

 according to all rules of reasoning, we must suppose to approach 

 in nature to them they are most alike. From this extreme mi- 

 nuteness then of the pores of these Milleporse, confessed to be 

 zoophytes, as well as those of Corallina officinalis as before men- 

 tioned, it is no great matter of surprise, that Doctor Jussieu 

 could not perceive any animal life in the corallines, nor Doctor 

 Schlosser in the JMillepora calcarea. As these experiments 

 ought to be attended with manv convenient coincidinof circum- 

 stances that do not often happen to persons who only go to the 



