THE cruise of the Exploring Expedition afforded unusual opportunities for the study of 

 Coral Zoophytes. Nearly all the groups of islands west of the latitude of the New 

 Hebrides, both north and south of the equator, were visited by vessels of the squadron ; 

 and these Pacific wanderings were followed up by a rapid passage among the reefs of the 

 East Indies. The attention of the author was first directed to this subject in the Fn-ji > 

 Group, the department during a previous summer having been in the hands of Mr. J. P. 

 Couthouy. The field for geological investigation there offered, was limited, as we were 

 shut out from the interior of the islands by the character of the natives : at the same time, 

 coral reefs spread out an inviting field for observation, hundreds of square miles in extent. 

 The three months, therefore, of our stay in that group were principally devoted to ex- 

 ploring the groves of the ocean, where flowers bloomed no less beautiful than those of 

 the forbidden lands, and rocks of coral growth afforded instruction of deep interest. The 

 specimens were obtained by wading over the reefs at low tide, with one or more buckets 

 at hand to receive the gathered clumps : or, where too deep for this, by floating slowly 

 along in a canoe with two or three natives, and, through the clear waters, pointing out 

 any desired coral to one of them, who would glide to the bottom, and soon return with 

 his hands loaded, lay down his treasures, and prepare for another descent. When taken 

 out of its element, the coral often appears as if lifeless ; but placing it in a basin of sea- 

 water, the polyps after a while expand, and cover the branches like flowers. Four-fifths 

 of the observations in this department were made at the Feejee Group. 



The number of species collected in the course of the cruise, exclusive of the HydroMra 

 and the Bryozoa, amounts to two hundred and sixty-one, of which two hundred and thn 1 ' 1 

 are here described as new. The animals of seventy species were figured from the living 

 specimens ; yet minute dissections were necessarily few where the time was so short, and 

 the novelties so numerous. 



Investigations, with such advantages, were calculated to throw much light upon a 

 department less thoroughly understood than any other in the Animal Kingdom. The 

 minute Hydroidca, and some Caryophylliae and Alcyonaria are found in the European 



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