142 SOME WONDEKS OF THE SEA. 



have very long and slender branches, which would be 

 broken to pieces by a wave which has no effect on the 

 true Coral. On account of the tangled mode in which 

 the branches of these beings are interlaced, they are 

 called Gorgonias by the scientific. Fishermen mostly 

 know them by the name of Sea Fans, or Fan Corals, 

 because they are flat and spread in fan-fashion from the 

 base. In some of them the animal envelope is a bright 

 scarlet, and retains its colour after it is dry, so that a 

 good specimen of Gorgonia is really a handsome object. 



The spicules which are deposited by the animal are 

 wonderful objects when seen under a moderate micro- 

 scopical power, say a half -inch object-glass. They are 

 transparent, stick-shaped, covered with knobs, and having 

 the most lovely tints of pink, very pale blue, and 

 yellow. Indeed, they look so much like barley-sugar 

 that all young people to whom I have shown the spicules 

 through the microscope have said that they must be good 

 to eat, if they were only large enough. 



In all these curious beings the central axis of the 

 stem and branches is composed alternately of horny 

 matter and stone, the former producing flexibility, and 

 the latter giving strength. When beaten by the waves 

 this compound structure yields to their force, and is 

 enabled to recover itself again when the force of the 

 storm has passed away. 



Another beautiful and well-known example of this 

 group is the Organ-pipe Coral, of which there are several 

 kinds. That which is best known is figured in the 



