2 ZOOPHYTES. 



forming a portion of that harmonious whole wherein all are compre- 

 hended. 



Entire tribes, as yet unnamed, — and many yet unseen, — incessantly 

 originate, and flourish, and decay, where most remote from notice, or 

 most inaccessible to mankind. When casually withdrawn from their 

 recesses, it is as if in derision of our vaunted knowledge, and to prove 

 our ignorance of the wonderful works of creation. Now the entire aspect 

 of animated nature changes before us. 



1. TuBULARiA Indivisa. — The Simple Tuhularia, or Oaten Pipe Co- 

 ralline.* — Plates I., II., III., IV. — An animal product, which the super- 

 ficial observer might conclude a flourishing vegetable, dwells at the depth 

 of thirty or forty feet from the surface of the sea. This, a yellow fistulous 

 stem, full of mucilaginous pith, is rooted on a solid substance below, and 

 crowned by a living head, resembling a fine scarlet blossom, with a double 

 row of tentacula, and often with pendent clusters like grapes, embel- 

 lished by various hues, wherein red and yellow predominate. 



Though perfect as a single stem, this production seldom appears in 

 a solitary state, — two, three, fifty, or even an hundred and fifty stalks 

 crowded together, — their heads of diverse figures, shades and dimensions, 

 constitute a brilliant animated group, too rich in nature to be effectively 

 pourtrayed by art. Plate I.f 



The stalks of a numerous colony are frequently intertwined towards 

 the root, which runs as a mere prolongation of the stem, on the subjacent 

 substance, or descends over its side, in a tortuous form, in strong adhe- 

 sion ; but always destitute of radicles like those rivetting vegetable pro- 

 ducts to the earth. Many of the stalks deviate from perpendicularity by 



* This may be defined, " Hydra sustained on a fistulous stem, wherein it is not re- 

 tractile. Tentacula in two rows : ovarium interposed between them." 



t All the subjects described here, being represented from living specimens, renders 

 a list of synonyms superfluous. The reader will find great assistance from the works of 

 Ellis, the Rev. Professor Dr John Fleming, Dr George Johnston, Lamoroux, La- 

 marck, and other learned authors. 



