go THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
this base is sometimes spread out into a large surface, and some- 
times becomes like a piece of detached root. 
Zoantha thalassanthos consists of large turf-like tufts of coral 
attached to the rocks. Its animalcules are packed closely together, 
and their expanded heads have a curious resemblance to a bunch of 
AN ANTIPATHIDA. 
(Antipathida arborea.) 
flowers in full bloom. They are borne on bending, rcot-like stems, 
of a pure white, which interlace each other. Their bodies are 
fusiform or spindle-shaped, pediculate and truncated at the summit, 
of a reddish brown colour, marked with longitudinal stripes still 
more coloured; the matter of which the polypier is composed is 
firm and parchment-like. From the body issues a tube, narrow, 
muscular, contractile, and red in colour, terminating at the 
