ZOANTHABIA. 



161 



path. These extremities are of a fine yellow colour, five or six lines 

 in diameter ; soft, and more than a finger's breadth in length. I have 

 seen the animal nestling in them ; it seemed to be a species of cuttle- 

 fish or sea-nettle. The body of this sea-nettle must have filled the 

 centre ; the head being in the middle, surrounded by many feet or 

 claws, like those of the cuttle-fish. The flesh of this animal is very 

 delicate, and is easily reduced to the form of a paste, melting almost 

 under the touch." 



The madrepores abound in all intertropical seas, taking a consider- 

 able part in the constitution of the reefs which form the coral and 





Fig. 75. Dendrophylia ramea (De Blainville). 

 Natural size, with polypi. 



Fig. 76. A part magnified. 



raadreporic islands so conspicuous in the ocean. The tree -like Den- 

 dropliyllia (D. ramea, Figs. 75 and 76) have cells of considerable 

 depth, radiating into numerous lamellae, forming a widely-branch- 

 ing arborescent coral, externally striated, internally furrowed, and 

 truncate at the extremities. The animals are actiniform, furnished 

 with numerous cleft tentacula, in the centre of which is the polygonal 

 mouth. In the LobophyUia, the tentacula are cylindrical, the cells 

 conical, sometimes elongated and sinuous, with a sub -circular opening 

 terminating the few branches of the polyp, which is fixed, turbinate, 

 and striated. The Plantain Madrepore, M. plantaginea (Lamarck), 

 is an interesting example, the polyp presenting itself, as in Fig. 77, 

 in tufts, with slender and prolific branches. 



