236 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



which is imbedded in the thickness of the tissues of the animal. 

 These lamince, at first quite flat, assume in the course of their develop- 

 ment a horse-shoe shape. Figs. 95 and 96 will give the reader some 

 idea of the form in which the young present themselves. Fig. 95 

 represents the corpuscles in which the polypidom has its origin ; 

 Fig. 96, the rudimentary form of the coral polypidom. 



Our present information does not enable us to say what time is 

 necessary for the coral to acquire the various proportions in which it 

 presents itself to the coral fisher. 



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, 

 Cor alium 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\\iov Kop-n a\6s), which the Latins translated 

 into coralium or corallium. It is now agreed among naturalists that 

 the coral is constructed by a family of polyps living together, and 

 composing a polypidom. 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 100. Each polypidom resembles, as we have 

 seen, a pretty red leafless 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 polyps. These axes 

 present a soft reticulated crust, or bark, full of little cavities, which 

 are the cells of the polyps, and they are permeated by a milky juice. 

 Beneath the crust is the coral, properly 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 



