CORALS. 353 



to its stem ; llius constituting a real genealogical tree : but the polype 

 also, during the autumnal season, deposits eggs, which evolve them- 

 selves afterwards into distinct animals, and thus it possesses two 

 modes of multiplication. It appears a paradoxical, circumstance, 

 that a polype should be able to swallow a worm three or four times 

 as large as itself, which is frequently observed to be the case ; but it 

 must be considered that the body of the animal is extremely exten- 

 sile ; and that it possesses the power of stretching according to the 

 size of the substance which it swallows. It seizes its prey with great 

 eagerness, but swallows it slowly, in the same manner as a snake 

 swallows any small quadruped. The arms of a polype, when mi- 

 croscopically examined, are found to bear a general resemblance to 

 those of the sepiae, or cuttle-fishes, being furnished with a vast num. 

 ber of small organs, which seem to act as so many suckers, or ace- 

 tabula, by which means the animal can hold a worm, even though 

 but slightly in contact with one of its arms ; but when on the point 

 of swallowing its prey, it then makes use of all the arms at once, in 

 order the more readily to absorb it. 



The number of zoophytes is extremely great, and the major part 

 are of an appearance so much resembling vegetables, that they have 

 been generally considered as such ; though the horny and stony ap- 

 pearance of several of the tribe, at first view, declare them to be of 

 a widely different nature from the generality of plants. In others, 

 however, the softness of their substance, and their ramified manner 

 of growth, would immediately lead any one unacquainted with their 

 realiiature, to suppose them vegetables. The hard, horny, or stony 

 zoophytes, are in general known by the name of corals ; and of these 

 there are several genera, or kinds, instituted from the structure and 

 appearance of the coral or hard part, and the affinity which the ani- 

 mal or softer part bears to some other genus among the soft-bodied 

 animals or moliusca. The zoophytes therefore unite the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms, and fill up the intermediate space. 



By the ancients, most of the zoophytes were considered as plants ; 

 but in later limes, some philosophers have imagined them rather to 

 belong to the mineral kingdom, fancying that they grew or increased 

 somewhat in the manner of crystals, and other regularly figured 

 bodies. 



About the beginning of the eighteenth century, some observa- 

 tions were made on the common red coral, and some other species, 

 vol. v. 2 a 



