1864. ] Dorurmrs on the Formation of Coral. 617 
extant from him to the Academy. It is probable, however, that after 
he had withdrawn himself from French scientific circles, he still con- 
tinued to direct his attention to another country, since he addressed 
his work to the Royal Society of London; then resigning himself to 
that loss of heart which injustice invariably induces, he ceased to labour, 
and never again returned to France. The date of his death even is 
not accurately known. 
Peyssonnel was unfortunate. His devotion to the welfare of his 
fellow-citizens during the fearful epidemic at Marseilles ; his generous 
and liberal offer for the endowment cf a prize; his great discoveries 
in the highest of the natural sciences, transferring to the animal 
realms a multitude of hitherto so-called plants; these should have 
secured for him in his own country such a position as would have kept 
him faithful to science. France would not then have been compelled 
to regret her indifference to an extended and prolific subject in science, 
nor to mourn over her neglect of a man who had done her honour ; 
permitting even the date of a valuable discovery, which belonged to 
her, to be inscribed in the archives of Great Britain. 
There being no doubt regarding the animal nature of coral, we have 
now to inquire into its reproduction and development. 
If the attempt to keep coral alive should prove successful, and 
observations be instituted in the fine season, that is, from May to 
September, at the time when reproduction is proceeding, we shall find 
that little white ovoid bodies (Fig. 1, c) escape from the centre of the 
graceful rosettes with which the surface of the animal is covered ; these 
in the first instance sink to the bottom of the water, but a short 
time afterwards acquire an elongated form, and are endowed with the 
power of movement. These little bodies are not, strictly speaking, 
ova, since they are already provided with organs of locomotion. They 
must be considered as embryos, or young polypes. 
They possess considerable activity, swim freely, avoid one another 
in their onward course, and ascend or descend in the glasses in which 
they are kept. Shortly after their first appearance, or when the water 
in which they are placed is renewed, their activity is much increased, 
_and they grow considerably in length. They are then completely 
vermiform (Fig. 1, b, d). 
These leading facts have not been observed without much labour. 
During the three months of June, July, and August, in spite of every 
care, and notwithstanding my choice of a very convenient locality, 
near to Calle, for the carrying out my experiments, the coral submitted 
to examination died in a most provoking manner. It was in vain that 
I searched for it myself, and with my own hands collected it with the 
greatest care from the nets; some hours after my return to the shore 
it was covered with a thick coating of mould. Judging by analogy 
with what I had seen among the Gorgonide and the true polypes, I 
took the precaution, towards the middle of August, of going on board 
one of the coral boats for several days, and then and there to open all 
the living coral which might be brought up. I hoped to succeed in pro- 
curing a premature development of the young polypes, and so to prevent 
their death ; a mode of experiment which had answered my expectations 
