CELLEPORID2E. 225 



sometimes they are dredged from the middle of the bay (Torquay). 

 Their colour varies considerably ; I have seen the soft parts white, yel- 

 lowish, orange-brown, reddish, and of a fine apple-green. The ten- 

 tacles are usually paler. During expansion, the soft parts rise above 

 the level of the calcareous disk to about twice its height. The tenta- 

 cles are pushed forth very slowly, but sometimes are as long as the 

 whole height of the body. They are terminated by a rounded head. 

 The mouth has the appearance of an elongated slit in the centre of the 

 disk ; it is prominent, and the lips are marked with transverse striae of 

 a white colour. When a solid body is brought into contact gently 

 with the tentacles, they adhere pretty strongly to it, just as the Ac- 

 tinia do ; but when they are rudely touched, they contract very 

 quickly, and if the irritation be continued, the whole soft parts sink 

 within the calcareous cup." 



The species best known from its skeleton is Corallium rubrum, or 

 Red Coral. It is the coral of commerce, and is an inhabitant of the 

 Mediterranean and adjacent seas. In appearance it resembles a tree 

 devoid of leaves and small branches. It requires about ten years to 

 arrive at maturity, and is then about a foot in length. Its skeleton or 

 axis is the polished brilliant red-stone used in ornamentations. It is 

 solid, channelled, ramified, and fixed by a broad base, with a thin ex- 

 ternal, fleshy covering, of a pale blue colour, and studded over with 

 star-like polyps, that extend their feelers to grasp at prey. When 

 brought into the air, the pulpy body of the animal soon decays, when 

 its remains are prepared for market, and the neck or arm of matchless 

 beauty is endeavoured to be rendered more attractive by being adorned 

 with the pretty skeleton forms of the dead animal. 



CELLEPORID^E. 



This family have calcareous polypidoms, cellular, irregularly -lobed, 

 or branched, formed of pitcher-shaped cells, heaped together or arranged 

 in quincunx, that is, resembling the five on playing-cards. 



On the British shores are found C- pumicosa, C. ramulosa, C. Skenei 

 (named after the talented Dr. David Skene), C. cervicornis, and C. 

 Icevis. This last, Dr. Fleming says, is " in height an inch and a quarter; 

 diameter, one-tenth ; the branches are smooth, with the orifices of 

 the cells smooth and concave ; towards the extremities the branches 

 are rough with the forming cells, and the orifices are more declining, 

 circumscribed, a little prominent, with a blunt process at the proximal 

 margin." 



Q 



