THE GORGONIA VERRUCOSA. 575 



of this class. To this also belongs the Organ-pipe coral the precious red coral of jewelry 

 the curious Sea-pens, Venellas, etc. The Sea-fans and Sea-feathers are abundant on th e shoal 

 of the Florida Reef. Acres of them may be seen, bending with the tide like so many land 

 grasses or shrubs. Their colors are pretty and striking, while living, and some are of a 

 beautiful red and sulphur-yellow when dead. 



GORQON1A. Goryinia verrucota. 



The GORGONIA VERRUCOSA figured above is a common example in other seas. The egg 

 case of a shark is shown very prettily, with its coiling tendrils wound around the branches of 

 the Gorgonia. The polyps of this species are shown plainly, while most others are too minute 

 to show distinctly. The illustration is of natural size. 



An allied species belonging to the same family (Isis hippuris) is formed in a very strange 

 fashion. Its branches are composed of a number of strong joints, united together by horny 

 rings, so that a certain amount of flexibility pervades its structure. Owing to this formation, 

 it is sometimes called the HORN-PLANT or SEA-SHRUB, titles surviving from the time when 

 all the corals were thought to be vegetables, and the expanded polypes to be their flowers. 

 They are always fixed by a base, and grow like trees, with their branches upwards. It 



