COEALS. 147 



conical, and attached to some marine body (often their pa- 

 rent) by the base, which is contracted into a kind of stem. 

 When in this state, the animal only occupies the upper sur- 

 face, but when it is full-grown and free, it completely en- 

 closes the Coral. 



^'As long as the young Fuugia retains the form of a 

 Car ?/opJi^ Ilea, it is entirely enveloped by the soft parts of 

 the animal; but as the upper disc of the Coral spreads and 

 it assumes its characteristic form, the pedicle is left naked, 

 and the soft part extends only to the line where the sepa- 

 ration takes place. I consider the cases where the young 

 Fimgia are found fixed to the under side of others of the 

 same species, to arise from the accidental attachment of the 

 young polype when detached from the ovarium of the pa- 

 rent, and by the motion of the water floated underneath a 

 larger one of its own species, the edges of which were not 

 so even as to touch the rock or Coral on which it rested, at 

 every part of its circumference. In such cases, the soft 

 parts of the older specimen would continue to cover the 

 short stem of the younger individual, and hence its separa- 

 tion from its pedicle would be pre vented. ^^ 



In Plate III. is figured the skeleton of a young Fiingia 

 (fig. 1), and Oculina jyrolifera (fig. 7), between which, the 



