ALCYONARIA 329 



coral fishery in ancient times, of which the history is lost. Coral 

 was imported into Japan at least two hundred years ago, and 

 used largely in the manufacture of those exc^uisite pieces of 

 handicraft for which that country is so justly famous. On many 

 of the carved " Netsukes " and other ornaments, however, the 

 coral branches are represented as the booty of dark-skinned, 

 curly -headed fishermen, " kurombo," and never of Japanese 

 fishermen. The coral used in this art -work can hardly he 

 distinguished from Mediterranean coral, and there are some 

 grounds for believing that Japan imported coral from the far 

 West in very early times. But this does not account for the 

 " kurombo." The only coast-dwelling people of the type that is 

 so clearly carved on these ornaments within the area of the 

 Pacific Ocean at the present time are the Melanesians and 

 Papuans, and the suggestion occurs that a coral fishery existed 

 at one time in the Southern Pacific, wliich has since been lost.^ 



The class Anthozoa is divided into two sub -classes: — I. 



AlC YON ARIA ; II. ZOANTHAEIA. 



In the Alcyonaria the fully developed zooids have always 

 eight tentacles and eight mesenteries. In the Zoantharia the 

 number of tentacles and the number of mesenteries in the fully 

 developed zooids may be six, twelve, twenty-four, or an indefinite 

 number, but individuals with eight mesenteries and only eight 

 tentacles are not known to occur. 



Sub-Class I. Alcyonaria. 



This sub-class includes a large number of genera living in 

 shallow sea-water and a few genera that extend down into deep 

 water. With a few doubtful exceptions (Protoalcyonacea) they 

 all form colonies composed of a large number of zooids. These 

 zooids may be connected together by basal plates or a network 

 of basal strands (stolons), or by stolons with additional connect- 

 ing bars {Clavnlaria viridis, Syringoj)ora) or by plates {Ihibi^iorci). 

 In the majority of the genera the individual zooids are for the 

 greater part of their length, from the base upwards, united 

 together to form a continuous spongy, colonial mass, which 

 determines the shape of the colony as a whole. 



In this last - named group of genera there may be dis- 



^ Hickson, A'. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, 1905. 



