488 



POLYPUS. 



der these names we open another enchanting volume 

 of nature's lovely works. It is one replete with high- 

 wrought interest, and presents more matter for men- 

 tal reflection than almost any other part of creation, 

 marvellous as they all are. The writer of this article 

 has, for some years past, been accumulating informa- 

 tion on the subject of coral formations ; but it is pro- 

 per to state that the field of actual observation is 

 open to but few, and yet fewer have benefited from it 

 as naturalists when within their reach. 



Our countryman Ellis published a valuable work 

 on corals and the corallines. It is nearly the only 

 one of any consequence on that subject ; but it 

 wants simplicity, and a natural association in its 

 arrangement as a system ; and subsequent dis- 

 coveries in that branch of nature have rendered it 

 extremely incomplete. The plates, however, are 

 most accurately designed, and beautiful fac-similes of 

 the various species described. Solarider, in a work 

 on Zoophytes, as also other naturalists and travellers, 

 have contributed much interesting matter relative to 

 the history of coral formations ; but, in our opinion, 

 it is to the labours of an eminent French naturalist, 

 Lamaroux, that we are indebted for the best and 

 most natural scientific arrangement of this littlfi- 

 understood subject. He has grappled the difficulties 

 with a vigorous mind, and thrown a charm around it 

 never before presented. From one of his now rare 

 works we therefore propose making a few extracts, 

 and only regret that we cannot transfuse into our 

 language all the spirit and simple eloquence which 

 distinguishes the original. We must therefore con- 

 tent ourselves with attempting a correct, rather than 

 an elegant translation. The title of Lamaroux's 

 work, to which we first allude, is " Histoire des 

 Polypiers Coralligenes Flexibles." A history of 

 Polypi takes a wider range than this part of the 

 subject requires, in which only such as form coral are 

 to be considered. They have been called Zoophytes 

 by great authorities, but it is manifestly inaccurate, 

 as the signification of animal plant cannot apply, 

 since the organisation of corals and corallines is 

 purely animal, and possesses no vegetable property 

 beyond a coincidence of external configuration, 

 which would equally apply to many portions of 

 animal structure which present a similar resemblance. 

 To call them " stone plants" would be no better; and 

 to say they are animated stones would still more be 

 cavilled at. It will presently be explained that 

 corals, commonly so called, are formed by certain 

 Polypi, who work out the term of their existence on, 

 and never quit during life, the coral, leaving, after 

 death, no more, as it were, than their skeleton, or 

 rather that of the whole colony of Polypi. Coral 

 thus being the dwelling, as well as the formation, of 

 these creatures, we propose adopting the term 

 Polypidom to express the view we take of the 

 subject. We shall therefore translate the title of 

 Lamaroux's work " A Treatise or History of the 

 Flexible Polypidoms," leaving it to the better taste 

 of others to adopt anything more expressive. The 

 term Polypidom would equally well apply to the 

 coral and Mndreporic formations, which are dis- 

 inguished by their stony nature from the flexible 

 *olypidoms, whose axis is horny ; and the architects 

 these may properly be called coralliferous Polypi, 

 Contradistinction to the other species, 

 amaroux truly observes, that, notwithstanding the 

 \sive information of naturalists, philosophers, and 



travellers, much yet remains unknown of those Poly- 

 pidoms which people the vast empire of the deep. 

 A very small portion of their Polypi have been 

 observed, and entire orders exist whose animals have 

 not, to the present time, been discovered. No light 

 has been thrown on their organisation, their growth, 

 or their precise term of existence ; all yet remains in 

 mysterious obscurity respecting the physiology of 

 this singular class of organisation ; but that they are 

 wholly animal remains no longer a doubt ; and the 

 term Zoophyte, for the reasons we have assigned, can 

 no longer apply to them. 



Polypidoms present one decided never-failing cha- 

 racter, that of being the habitation, and forming the 

 most solid part of many thousand living animals, 

 united, and incapable of voluntary separation from 

 each other. These creatures, or Polypi, have but 

 one character in common, that of being constantly- 

 attached to an animated mass, sharing in, and contri- 

 buting to, its existence ; and, notwithstanding this 

 voluntary attachment to the colony, each individual 

 possessing animal functions of its own, distinct from 

 its neighbour. All the Polypi constituting a Poly- 

 pidom participate in its existence, and the sustenance 

 derived by one of these little wonder-working crea- 

 tures extends its beneficial influence to the most 

 distant point of the colony it forms a part of. It is 

 not easy to understand or account for this ; but 

 matter-of-fact observation proves that it must be so ; 

 and we are bound to receive concurring evidence 

 in the absence of positive and particular proof to the 

 contrary. And here Lamaroux says " Some spe- 

 cies of Polypidoms are found constantly sloping on 

 the southern aspects of rocks, but never on those to 

 the east, west, or north ; on the contrary, others only 

 develope themselves on those aspects in general ; 

 whatever their situation, their branches appear con- 

 stantly directed, in the progress of their construction, 

 towards the main sea." 



The larger Polypidoms are but rarely met with in 

 situations exposed to the shock of violent currents, 

 or full influx of the waves. It is in the caverns of 

 rocks, in submarine grottoes, in the shelter of large 

 and solid masses, and most particularly in those gulfs 

 where the waters are not agitated, that these extraor- 

 dinary creatures fix their dwelling. Many of them 

 appear not only formed to resist the powerful action 

 of the boisterous surge, but to thrive and delight in 

 it, their bending branches yielding to the movements 

 of the waters, and balancing the animals that form 

 them in the restless medium. Others, again, con- 

 struct rocky and immoveable habitations, giving them 

 the form of tunnels, and placing themselves in the 

 interior; while some, by their reunion or aggregation, 

 form an extensive stratum, narrow in proportion to 

 its length, but prolonged without interruption, and 

 forming an immoveable dike or wall, for many ter- 

 restrial degrees. This usually crosses the great cur- 

 rents of the ocean, whilst its solidity and greatness 

 continually are augmenting, as it were, to overcome 

 the difficulty of its task. Sometimes these rocks of 

 Madrepore are curved in a circular form ; the Polypi, 

 inhabiting them in their interiors, elevate by slow 

 degrees their marble dwellings to the surface of the 

 waters; thus, ever sheltered in their labours, they 

 load, by patient perseverance, the bottom of the 

 deep; but in the higher part of this impenetrable 

 wall openings are left that communicate with the 

 external waters, that the Polypi within may be con- 



