122 



CORALS 



Isidae, to which Isis belongs, there are various modes of 

 ramification, and it is important to note, therefore, that 

 Isis is one of those in which the branches always arise from 

 the calcareous internodes. The species with which we are 

 most familiar is called Isis hippuris. It is found in many 

 shallow-water localities in the W. Indies and in the Pacific 



and Indian Oceans. It 

 was well known to 

 Rumphius,^ who says 

 that it was valued by 

 the natives of x\mboyna 

 and the neighbouring 

 islands as an antidote 

 against dysentery, 

 cholera, and other dis- 

 eases. Pallas states on 

 the authority of Im- 

 perato that Isis hippuris 

 occurs in the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea, but there 

 appears to be no recent 

 record of its occurrence 

 either north or south of 

 tropical waters,- 



IsiDELLA. — Belong- 

 ing to the same family 

 as Isis, a much more 

 delicate coral called 

 Isidella is found in the 

 Mediterranean Sea, in 

 deep water in the fjords of Norway, and in the Bay of 

 Biscay. 



In this form the ramification is more diffuse and usually 

 dichotomous, and the branches arise from the horn}' nodes 

 and not from the calcareous internodes as they do in Isis. 

 The internodes are long, slender, and smooth ; the nodes are 



Fig. 



-Isidella ncapiilitana. Xat. size. 



1 The Accarbaar puti of the Malays (see p. 247). 



- For a further account of this species see J. J. Simpson, Jotini. Liiiii. 

 Society, x.x.xvii., 1906. 



