44 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



(the individuals being close packed), which hang limp, lax, 

 and motionless from the timbers when the tide is out, are 

 very far from being suggestive of the gorgeous display, 

 the fairy garden, that will be there when the waters have 

 returned. 



There are many other species on our shores, but I think 

 I have alluded to the more striking and readily available 

 ones, which is all I seek to do in this book. 



Linking the anemones with the compound corals of 

 southern seas, there are several forms on our coast. They 

 are Gorgonia and the Alcyoniums. 



The former is the so-called " Sea-fan," and is a very 

 interesting organism. It does not occur actually on the 

 shore that is, not between tide marks and so may be a 

 little out of my province, but it occurs in tolerably shallow 

 water. The specimen photographed (Fig. 15) was taken 

 in the trawl in about twelve fathoms of water on the coast 

 of Guernsey. 



Gorgonia verrucosa is the species occurring here. It 

 consists inwardly of a whalebone-like or hornlike axis, 

 branched like a little tree, with a tendency to flatness 

 i.e. the branches are more or less on one plane. Around 

 this axis is a deposit of carbonate of lime (both the material 

 of the axis and the calcareous coating are, of course, secreted 

 by the polypi). The coating is raised into innumerable 

 little prominences (easily seen in the photo), and each of 

 these prominences is a " cup," in which dwells a little eight 

 tentacled polyp. In anatomy each of these is similar to 

 the anemones described a page or two back. The stock 

 when taken from the sea is of a rich orange colour, and 

 emits a very peculiar, and by no means agreeable, odour, 

 something like iodine. It grows to a height of about two 

 feet, with a lateral extension of somewhat less. 



Fig. 16 shows the appearance of a small portion of a 

 branch with the polypi extruded. 



