108 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
he decided to communicate the opinions of Peyssonnel; but he 
himself did not adopt them. The subject was in dispute up to 
the very time when Trembley, of Geneva, published his admirable 
observations upon the fresh-water polype, and then naturalists 
recognised the very great resemblance which existed between 
this curious invertebrate and the coral animalcule. Guettard, of 
Etampes, and Bernard, of Jussieu, undertook a voyage expressly to 
investigate the subject, and to verify the assertions of Peyssonnel. 
All naturalists now agree that the coral is a family of polypes, 
living in community, and forming by their united exertions a 
SPICUL OF CORAL. 
polypier. Coral is found in the Mediterranean and in the Red 
Sea at different depths, sometimes in water only ten feet deep, 
but never below 150 fathoms. 
We may observe in passing that the coral is usually mixed 
with other polypiers and marine structures, so that a mass is pro- 
duced, sometimes very compact and inextricable, to which the 
term wacciotta has been given. Each stalk of coral resembles a 
pretty, red, leafless shrub, bearing little delicate star-like flowers. 
The stalks of this little tree are common to the association, 
and the flowers are the polypes. These arborescent formations 
generally hang from some shelf, and so grow downwards, and not 
like ordinary vegetation. They are found growing together in 
bushes or copses, or spreading out, as we have said, into veritable 
forests. The stems have a soft, reticulated cortex or bark, which 
