CORALS. 137 



festly rudimentary. AYheu the soft parts have been care- 

 fully removed by several days^ maceration in fresh-water, 

 and the gelatinous matter all cleared away froDi the stony 

 plate by a slender stream of water allowed to run upon it 

 from a height, a vertical view shows the following arrange- 

 ments. First, at the very margin there is a narrow circle 

 of white calcareous plates, small and very irregularly anas- 

 tomosing, so as to resemble in miniature the honeycombed 

 limestone-rock that we find in Torquay and elsewhere. In 

 the centre of the cavity, there is another loose spongy mass 

 of similar irregular plates. Eighteen perpendicular radi- 

 ating plates extend between the marginal circle and the 

 central mass, arranged in six threes, so as to make a six- 

 rayed star. The plates are all very rough, with irregular 

 projections and erosions. They do not rise in an arched 

 outline above the level of the margin, but the whole sur- 

 face is concave.^' I had noticed in the British collection 

 of the British Museum a few specimens, marked " Ilfra- 

 combe,^' which struck me as extremely different from the 

 skeleton of C. Smithii, before being aware of Mr. Gosse hav- 

 ing thus completely described this species. It has since 

 been taken in considerable numbers, and living 

 can be easily obtained. 



JujSlIBRARy]^ 



