ix THE SEA 349 



"A tuft of Sertularia, laden with white, or 

 brilliantly tinted Polyp ites," says Hincks, 

 "like blossoms on some tropical tree, is .a per- 

 fect marvel of beauty. The unfolding of a 

 mass of Plumularia, taken from amongst the 

 miscellaneous contents of the dredge, and 

 thrown into a bottle of clear sea- water, is a 

 sight which, once seen, no dredger will for- 

 get. A tree of Campanularia, when each one 

 of its thousand transparent calycles itself a 

 study of form is crowned by a circlet of 

 beaded arms, drooping over its margin like 

 the petals of a flower^ offers a rare combi- 

 nation of the elements of beauty. 



The rocky wall of some deep tidal pool, 

 thickly studded with the long and slender 

 stems of Tubularia, surmounted by the bright 

 rose-coloured heads, is like the gay parterre 

 of a garden. Equally beautiful is the dense 

 growth of Campanularia, covering (as I have 

 seen it in Plymouth Sound) large tracts of the 

 rock, its delicate shoots swaying to and fro 

 with each movement of the water, like trees 

 in a storm, or the colony of Obelia on the 

 waving frond of the tangle looking almost 



