COEALLINES. 137 



distinct animal. " What can be more remarkable," he adds, " than to 

 see a plant-like body producing an egg, capable of swimming about 

 and choosing a proper place to adhere to, where it sprouts out into 

 branches, each crowded with innumerable distinct animals, often of 

 complicated organization ! the branches, moreover, sometimes pos- 

 sessing organs capable of movement independent of the polypi." 



Passing to the coral fishing, it may be said to be quite special, 

 presenting no analogy with any other fishing in the European seas, if we 

 except the sponge fisheries. The fishing stations which occur are found 

 on the Italian coast and the coast of Barbary ; in short, in most parts of 

 the Mediterranean basin. In all these regions, on abrupt rocky beds, 

 certain aquatic forests occur, composed entirely of the red coral, the most 

 brilliant and the most celebrated of all the corals, Coralium decus 

 liquidi! During many ages, as we have seen, the coral was supposed 

 to be a plant. The ancient Greeks called it the daughter of the sea 

 (Kopd\\tov KopTj aXo?), which the Latins translated into corraUum or 

 coralium. It is now agreed among naturalists that the coral is con- 

 structed by a family of polyps living together, and composing a poly- 

 pidom. It abounds in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, where it is 

 found at various depths, but rarely less than five fathoms, or more 

 than a hundred and fifty. Each polypidom resembles a pretty red leaf- 

 less under shrub bearing delicate little star-like radiating white flowers. 

 The axes of this little tree are the parts common to the association, 

 the flowrets are the polypi. These axes present a soft reticulated 

 crust, full of little cavities, which are the cells of the polyps, and 

 are permeated by a milky juice. Beneath the crust is the coral, pro- 

 perly so called, which equals marble in hardness, and is remarkable 

 for its striped surface, its bright red colour, and the fine polish of which 

 it is susceptible. The ancients believed that it was soft in the water, 

 and only took its consistence when exposed to the air : 



" Sic et coralium, quo primum contigit auras 

 Tempore, durescit." OVID. 



The fishing is chiefly conducted by sailors from Genoa, Leghorn, 

 and Naples, and it is so fatiguing, that it is a common saying in Italy 

 that a sailor obliged to go to the coral fishery should be a thief or an 

 assassin. The saying is a gratuitous insult to the sailor, but conveys 

 a good idea enough of the occupation. 



