64 CORALS 



The early belief that the Fungia was simply a mushroom 

 which had, in some mysterious wa}', fallen into the sea and 

 been turned into stone was finally disposed of by Rumphius 

 in 1684, who proved conclusively that the structure of 

 Fungia is totally different from that of a Fungus. 



But Rumphius did more than that, for he gave, for the 

 hrst time, an account of the coral polyp. He said that 

 when the coral is seen alive in the water it is covered with 

 an animal-like (" diergelyke ") mucus, that it is provided with 

 innumerable oval tentacles ("langwerpigeblaasjes"), and that 

 when it is taken out of the water this mucus and the tentacles 

 contract between the septa. Although he compared the 

 mucous substance of the Fungia with that of a jelly-fish 

 (" zeequalle "), he was not sufficiently in advance of his time 

 to declare boldly that it was an animal and thereby anticipate 

 the discovery by Peyssonel and Ellis, a century later, of the 

 animal nature of corals, but was contented with the some- 

 what vague conception that it is intermediate between a 

 stone and a zoophyte. 



One of the most interesting facts that have been dis- 

 covered about Fungia is that the familiar large unattached 

 specimens are preceded in development by a stage in which 

 they are attached by a short stalk to a rock. 



The first reasonably clear and illustrated account of this 

 stage was given by Stutchbury in 1830, but it was not until 

 quite recent times that a complete description of the way 

 in which the Fungia is formed from the attached stalk and 

 is subsequently detached from it has been given by Bourne.^ 

 It is interesting, however, to find that the stalked form did 

 not escape the notice of Rumphius,- who says that " some- 

 times a little foot can be seen on the underside by which 

 it is attached, but not firmly, to the rocks." 



In a large collection of specimens of Fungia there can 

 usually be found at least one which is almost completely 

 circular in outline, and it is convenient to use such a form 

 for a first study of the structure of the genus. Variations 

 of this type can be studied later. 



1 G. C. Bourne, Trans. Roy. Dublin Soc. v., 1893. 

 - Rumphius, Amboinsch Kruidboek, vol. vi. Book xii. p. 247. 



