22 
sagaetiadj:. 
Of course, in so limited a space, a large proportion of this 
number must consist of small individuals ; and specimens in 
several gradations of development may often be observed, 
suggestive of as many generations, from the gigantic fore- 
father of the family to the tiny great-grandchildren that 
crowd around his foot, no larger than split peas. From the 
fissiparous tendency above noticed, it is probable that these 
multiplications are but essential parts of one individual, not 
his descendants ; analogous to the multiplication of a plant 
by cuttings as distinguished from that by seeds. There is 
no real process of generation in either case. What confirms 
my suspicion, that such is the true explanation of these 
congregated groups of dianthts, is the fact that, in general, 
all the members of each colony are of the same variety of 
colour. Now and then, however, we do see in the cluster a 
specimen of quite a difierent hue, as, for example, a dark 
olive one in the midst of a flesh-coloured group. In this 
case we must presume that there has been the deposition of 
a real germ, — the product of a really generative function — 
either from one of the individuals already settled there, or 
from some stranger. Flat stones, but more commonly 
large bivalve shells, such as oysters, pectens, and pinnm, 
are the sites usually selected for the colonies of dianthus. 
But though the floor of the sea is the proper home of the 
species, it is found, in certain favom-able localities, to con- 
gregate in great numbers within tide marks. Where a 
breadth of semi-cavernous rock, honeycombed by mollusks, 
and studded with Alcyonia, Tunicata and Sponges, darkly 
overhangs a tide-pool, as around Petit Tor, and in the 
caves of Tenby and Lidstep ; or where an immense boulder 
has so fallen upon others as to present a broad under-sur- 
face to the flowing tide ; I have seen scores on scores of 
dianthuses hanging, dank and flaccid, from the rock, each 
with a globule of crystal water, suspended like a dew-drop 
