BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 131 



or 12 inches. The root or first beginning consists of 

 an irregular tuft of extremely small tubes, appearing 

 like a piece of sponge to the naked eye. Several of 

 these little tubes, rising together and united in close 

 contact, become a stalk, which appears in the micro- 

 scope curiously channelled and mdented."-^ElUs. 



This is the '^ Pheasant-tail Coralline/^ and an inte- 

 resting incident is related respecting this species by 

 Dr. Landsborough (Popular History). 



Dr. Johnston, in the first edition of his '^British 

 Zoophytes," remarked that the vesicles of this species 

 were a desideratum. Dr. Landsborough sent him a 

 specimen having the vesicles upon it, which, he informs 

 us, "was got by a fisherman, adhering to his long lines 

 ofi" Whiting Bay, Arran, who, being struck with its 

 beauty, hke a kind-hearted man, took it home as a 

 present to his wife ; and she, being a person of similar 

 taste, admired it as much as her husband had done 

 With all due care, therefore, she planted it in an old 

 teapot filled with earth, and, watering it with fresh 

 water every morning, she had the satisfaction of think- 

 mg that it grew a little larger under her judicious 

 management ! What would have been her deiight had 

 she foreseen that her sea-born, earth-nourished frvourite 

 was to flourish for ages in Dr. Johnston's well-known 

 History !'' 



Very recently I was told by a Filey fisherman, who 

 observed me taking a specimen of A. ramosa out of 

 the dredge, that he '^had had one of that kind, which 

 stuck to his lines, growing in a plant pot out of doors, 

 and that it had stood the winter very well" ! 



The pinnae of this species appear to be given off on 

 one side. This arises from the fact that, although the 



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