214 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



FAMILY ALCYONID.E. 



" The tones of the majestic sea 

 Have meanings too sublime for me, 

 When billows lift their voice on high, 

 And clouds are thundering their reply. 

 I love to hear its soften'd tones, 

 Its hush'd complaints, its under moans, 

 When waves subsiding sink to rest, 

 And sunbeams sleep upon its breast." Ellen Roberts. 



Genus XXI. ALCYONIUM, Linneeus. 



Gen. Char. Polype-mass lobed or incrusting, spongious, the 

 skin coriaceous, marked with stellated pores ; interior gelati- 

 nous, netted with tubular fibres, and perforated with longitudinal 

 canals, terminating in the polype-cells, which are subcutaneous 

 and scattered. Polypes exsertile. Johnston. 



1. ALCYONIUM DIGITATUM, Dead Man's Hands, Dead 

 Man's Toes. 



Hab. On stones, shells, etc., in deep water. 



This sponge-looking zoophyte takes its name from Alcyon, 

 the kingfisher; and the fable is, that the bird formed its 

 nest of the foam of the sea, and floated it on the deep, and 

 that old Neptune, in kindness, kept the waves in check 

 all the time the bird was hatching ; hence is derived the 



