359 



XXX. — Lacaze-Duthiees on Coral. 



HisToiRE Naturelle du Corail. Par H. Lacaze-Duthiers. Paris, 

 J. B. Bailliere et Fils, 1864. 



There is perhaps no invertebrate animal which has excited so much 

 interest in the commercial or scientific world as that whose mortal 

 remains are familiarly known to us as " Coral"— the red coral of our 

 infant days, and the pink coral of our more mature and fashionable 

 life. Tor many years its position in the organic world was a subject 

 of fierce dispute among continental naturalists, and it was only by 

 very slow degrees that the idea of its vegetable nature was dispelled 

 and its place in the animal kingdom formally acknowledged. 



Long, however, before this took place coral was an object of 

 commercial pursuit, and its value for ornamental purposes contributed 

 largely to direct attention to its nature and the best means of in- 

 creasing its production. After the occupation of Algeria by the 

 French the Colonial Grovernraent early gave its attention to the 

 subject, and successive Governors of that province did their utmost 

 to develope the fishery for coral as a source of revenue to the colony. 

 Their eff'orts, however, were without eff'ect, and it was not until 

 1855 that, at the instigation of Marshal Yaillant, steps were taken 

 in a right direction, and the Societe d'AccUmatation was consulted as 

 to the proper means of dealing with the subject. It then became 

 evident that nothing less than a thorough scientific study of the 

 living coral would provide the necessary information for properly 

 managing the fishery, and after many difficulties and delays M. 

 Lacaze-Duthiers was appointed to carry out the investigation — an 

 agreeable task, the results of which are embodied in the volume 

 before us, and which adds one more to the list of elaborate and ex- 

 haustive monographs that the industry of French naturalists has 

 contributed to the literature of science. 



M. Lacaze-Duthiers was already favourably known by his pub- 

 lished researches among the invertebrate animals of the Mediter- 

 ranean, when he was called Lipon to investigate the natural history 

 of the coral, and in the introduction to his volume he publishes, 

 perhaps somewhat unnecessarily, the complimentary letter of M. 

 Quatrefages ofi'ering him the appointment. 



The work is divided into seven chapters, of which the first five 

 are devoted to the scientific portion of the subject ; the remaining 



