POLYPI. 83 



A. Axis stony (Isidea EHRENB.) 

 Isis L. 



Corallium LAM. Shaft uniform, rigid, finely striated longi- 

 tudinally. 



Sp. Corallium rubrum LAM., Isis nobilis L. TOURNEF. Instit. Ed herbaria?, 

 Tab. cccxxxix. (Axis), ESPER, Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. vu, vni. ; CAVOLINT 

 Polipi, pp. 32 47, Tab. n. CUVIER R. Anim. e"dit. iUustree, Zooph. PI. 

 80. Blood-coral ; in the Mediterranean, especially on the African coast. It 

 is exported to the East Indies, and is also much used in Europe for neck- 

 ornaments. It grows on all sorts of marine bodies, even on other corals, 

 and not only downwards, but in all directions, increasing very slowly ; it is 

 seldom more than a foot long. The streaks visible on the unpolished axis 

 are the impressions of vessels which run in the bark, and form a communi- 

 cation between the different polyps. 



Melitcea LAM. Shaft knotty, genicula tumid, ramiferous. 



Sp. Melitcea ochracea, Isis ochracea L., PALL., Natuurl. Hist, der plantdieren, 

 door BODDAEKT, Tab. vu. MEIJEN, Reise urn die Erde, in. Zool. Tab. xxxix. 

 in the Indian Ocean. 



Isis LAM. Shaft with jointed axis, nodes stony, striated, rami- 

 ferous, internodia horny. 



Sp. Isis Uppuris L. ; ESPER Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. I in. 



Mopsea LAMOUK., EHRENB. Shaft with jointed axis, nodes 

 homy, ramiferous, internodia stony. 



Sp. Mopsea dichotoma, Isis dichotoma L. ; ESPER Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. v. 



Note. Here also belongs Isis elongata, ESPER Pflanzenth. Isid. Tab. vi, 

 according to two specimens brought by the noble V. SIEBOLD from Japan, 

 which are preserved in the Leyden Museum, and agree with ESPER'S 

 figure. Is the same species also found in the Mediterranean, as PHILIPPI 

 supposes, who refers to it Mopsea Mediterranea Eisso ? See WIEGMANN 

 u. ERICHSON'S Archiv. vin. 1842. s. 38. 



B. Axis horny (Cerato-corallia or Gorgonia EHRENB.) 



Gorgonia L. (exclusive of species of Antipathes}. Stem with 

 axis horny, distinct: the crust polypiferous, fibroso-calcareous, per- 

 sistent. 



Sea-shrub, Horn-plant. These horn-plants grow with stem and 

 branches upwards ; the latter are usually situated in a plane, and 

 often coalesce. Many earlier and later writers have believed the 

 stem to be a plant, on which Polyps had fixed themselves. (De 

 natura vegetabili Gforgoniarum, auctore G. L. C. GRAVENHORST, 

 OKEN'S Isis 1823. s. 724. Reale Academia delle scienze di Torino 



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