194 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



called Gorgonia verrucosa. This species is from 

 six to twelve inches in height, and much branched. 

 On the surface of these branches, which are calca- 

 reous, like other corals, is a flesh-coloured crust, 

 which is the living membrane in which the indi- 

 vidual polypes reside. A careful examination 

 with a microscope of these creatures will amply 

 repay the observer; and, independently of the 

 structure of the whole, or of the individual 

 polypes that compose it, not the least marvellous 

 is the faculty they possess of secreting from the 

 surrounding water the lime requisite to the struc- 

 ture of their common abode a faculty not the 

 less wonderful although shared by them with a 

 great multitude of other inhabitants of the sea. 



Specimens of another order of zoophytes present 

 themselves to us on every rocky shore, belonging 

 to the order Helianthoida, so called because of 

 their resemblance to the sunflower. These are 

 what are known as Actiniae, or, in popular lan- 

 guage, sea-anemones. They have fleshy bodies, 

 of various hues and sizes, are attached to one 

 spot, * and the tentacles which surround their 

 mouths when expanded give them a striking 

 resemblance to flowers. When the tide has re- 

 ceded, they may be seen attached to the sides of 

 the rocks, beneath the overhanging seaweed. 

 Their appearance when thus discovered is by no 

 means attractive. They resemble small hemi- 

 spheres, or cones, in the centre of which is an 

 orifice closed up, something like the mouth of a 

 bag when tightly drawn together by the string. 



