332 Dr. Mantell’s Lecture on Zoophytes. 
agency the life of the whole mass is maintained. How far each 
polype may possess sensation apart from the rest or from the general 
mass, whether they are separate centres of sensation, and suscepti- 
ble of pain and pleasure individually, it is impossible for us to deter- 
mine. We have a living proof, in our own species, in the Siamese 
twins, that there may be a united organization with distinct nervous 
system and individual sensation. However this may be, it is certain 
that the Almighty Creator of the universe has bestowed on these, 
as on all his creatures, the capacity and means of enjoyment. Dr. 
M. then mentioned the various and almost endless forms which this 
class of animals assumed, some being branched like trees, and flexi- 
ble, others of a stony hardness; some in large blocks with convolu- 
tions on the surface, of which the brain coral was a familiar exam- 
ple; others not unlike large fungi, some of a beautiful blue color; 
while a well known species was of so exquisite a vermilion, that a 
comparison with it was the greatest compliment paid to the lips of 
beauty. This species, the Corallium rubrum, so much used for or- 
namental purposes, is common in the Mediterranean and other warm 
seas; and immense quantities are annually obtained for the manu- 
factories at Naples, Leghorn, and other places. In a living state it 
forms a branched figure of about one foot in height, and is covered 
over with a fleshy substance of a pale bluish color, is studded with 
numerous starlike projections, from which issue polypi with six or 
eight feelers, the whole looking, when the animals are expanded, like 
a branch of a tree with a crimson base, a bluish bark and numerous 
flowers. The paintings exhibited by Dr. Mantell, of the red coral 
when alive, were very beautiful, and admirably illustrative of his 
description. 
All the principal forms of corals were exemplified by drawings, 
and by a fine and numerous series of specimens, (of the skeletons, 
as the lecturer termed them,) of madrepores, astree, &c. 
The appearance of the recent zoophytes when seen in tranquil 
water was described by Dr. M. as most beautiful; the bottom of 
the Red Sea was so enamelled with them in some parts as to appear 
like a bed of tulips or dahlias ; and when we looked at the drawings 
of some of the large fungi, which had a crimson disk with a purple 
and yellow centre, we could not doubt the propriety of the com- 
parison, From the wonderful structure of the zoophytes, Dr. M. 
proceeded to the consideration of the still more marvellous effects 
produced by such apparently helpless beings, the production of 
