POLYPI. 83 
A. Axis stony (Isidea EHRENB,) 
Isis L. 
Corallium LAM. Shaft uniform, rigid, finely striated longi- 
tudinally. 
Sp. Coralleum rubrum Lam., Isis nobilis L. Tourner. Instit. Ret herbarie, 
Tab. Ccoxxx1x. (Axis), Esper, Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. vu, VIII. ; CAVOLINI 
Polipi, pp. 32--47, Tab. u. Cuvier R. Anim. édit. illustrée, Zooph. Pl. 
80. Blood-coral ; in the Mediterranean, especially on the African coast. It 
is exported to the Hast Indies, and is also much used in Europe for neck- 
ornaments. It grows on all sorts of marine bodies, even on other corals, 
and not only downwards, but in all directions, increasing very slowly ; it is 
seldom more than a foot long. The streaks visible on the unpolished axis 
are the impressions of vessels which run in the bark, and form a communi- 
cation between the different polyps. 
Melitea Lam. Shaft knotty, genicula tumid, ramiferous. 
Sp. Melita ochracea, Isis ochracea L., Patu., Natwurl. Hist. der plantdieren, 
door BopDAERT, Tab. vit. MEIJEN, Reise um die Erde, 111, Zool. Tab. XXXIX. 
in the Indian Ocean. 
Isis LAM. Shaft with jointed axis, nodes stony, striated, rami- 
ferous, internodia horny. 
Sp. sis hippuris L.; Esper Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. I—101. 
Mopsea Lamour., Enrens. Shaft with jointed axis, nodes 
horny, ramiferous, internodia stony. 
Sp. Mopsea dichotoma, Isis dichotoma L.; Esper Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. v. 
Note. Here also belongs Isis elongata, Esper Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. v1, 
according to two specimens brought by the noble V. S1EBOLD from Japan, 
which are preserved in the Leyden Museum, and agree with EsPEr’s 
figure. Is the same species also found in the Mediterranean, as PHILIPPI 
supposes, who refers to it Mopsea Mediterranea Risso? See W1IEGMANN 
u. ERIcHSON’S Archiv. VIII. 1842. s. 38. 
B. Axis horny (Cerato-corallia or Gorgonia KHRENB.) 
Gorgonia L. (exclusive of species of Antipathes). Stem with 
axis horny, distinct: the crust polypiferous, fibroso-calcareous, per- 
sistent. 
Sea-shrub, Horn-plant. These horn-plants grow with stem and 
branches upwards ; the latter are usually situated in a plane, and 
often coalesce. Many earlier and later writers have believed the 
stem to be a plant, on which Polyps had fixed themselves, (De 
natura vegetabili Gorgoniarum, auctore G. L. C. GRavennorst, 
Oxen’s Jsis 1823. s. 724. Reale Academia delle scienze di Torino 
6—2 
