CORALS. 143 



though being a single-rayed Madrepore^ plays no important 

 part in the construction of Coral-reefs, yet forms a pleasing 

 object in the shallow lagoons. Another very beautiful form 

 allied to this is constructed on the same principle, but elon- 

 gated ; the inner edges of the plates meeting in a longitu- 

 dinal line. This species has the outside or back hollow, so 

 that with the mouth downwards it resembles a boat. We 

 have seen very fine specimens of this, with numbers of 

 young individuals of the same or other species adhering to 

 the outer surface. 



Mr. Samuel Stutchbury, who went out as collector of 

 Natural History in a voyage undertaken by a Company 

 formed in the year 1825 for the purpose of fishing for 

 Pearls in the Pacific Ocean, gives some lucid details re- 

 specting the growth and propagation of specimens of the 

 genus Ftmgia. They generally he at the hollows of reefs, 

 where they are in some degree protected from the more 

 violent agitation of the sea by the surrounding portions 

 of branching Coral, which enclose the hollows, and, at the 

 same time, allow sea-water free access through their in- 

 terstices. 



It appears then, although the older and larger indivi- 

 duals are quite unattached and present no mark of former 



