ON THE USE OF SOME WORDS 5 



There are a few Alcyonaria such as the Blue coral (Helio- 

 pora), the Organ-pipe coral (Tubipora), the Precious coral 

 (Corallium), and some others that are less known which 

 must still be classed with Corals on the ground that they 

 form compact shell structures of calcium carbonate that 

 do not disintegrate into isolated spicules on maceration in 

 sea-water ; but in my opinion many of the Alcyonaria 

 should not be called Corals. 



The large and heterogeneous group of organisms which 

 were formerly known as Corallines, also presents us with 

 many difficulties. Some of these, such as the Polyzoan 

 genus Cellepora, formerly classed with the " Cell-corallines," 

 cannot be omitted from a general treatise on Corals, but 

 the majority of the Polyzoa and also Hydrozoa with chitin- 

 ous or horny tests, such as the Pipe corallines (Tubularia) 

 and the Herring-bone or Vesicular corallines (Sertularia, 

 etc.), are not corals in the usual meaning of the word. 



It will be seen from this attempt to define the word 

 " Coral " that it is a word of very ancient origin which, 

 from having a very restricted application to one kind of 

 marine product, has gradually acquired in the course of 

 the ages a vague and ill-defined meaning. It conveys now 

 to the mind not a definite species of the Animal Kingdom 

 but a strange assortment of marine organisms both animal 

 and vegetable, which make a hard calcareous, or in some 

 cases horny, structure that resists disintegration after the 

 death of the living tissues. 



No attempt to restrict its use to its original meaning, 

 and to invent such terms as " false corals " or " coralloids " 

 or " pseudo-corals " to everything of this nature except 

 the species of the genus Corallium as it is now used, could 

 possibly be accepted. It would lead to such absurdities of 

 language that you might search the coral reefs of the world 

 and not find a single species of the true coral. It would 

 necessitate the alteration of many thousands of labels in 

 the museums and would create confusion in our literature. 



The difiiculty of defining a word such as Coral, that has 

 come into popular use and has reference to things that are 

 not fully understood even by those who have made a pro- 



