LECTURE XII. 207 



Corals is called Gorgonia or Gorgon. It contains 

 a great many species, which differ greatly from 

 each other in appearance, some being of a flat- 

 tened and fan-shaped form; others rounded, and 

 branched in the manner of trees. Of the fan- 

 shaped gorgoniae the species called the G. Flabel- 

 lum Veneris, or Venus's Fan, is one of the most 

 elegant. It is chiefly found on the rocks of the 

 Indian and American seas, and grows to the 

 height of two or three feet ; its branches are so 

 disposed as to resemble a kind of irregular net- 

 work, and it is often seen in a proliferous state, 

 many younger specimens branching out from the 

 chief or principal one. Its colour is either purple 

 or yellow, and sometimes intermixed. The stem 

 or bone, when the soft part in which the polypes 

 are placed is rubbed off, is of a horny substance, 

 and of a blackish colour. But the species which 

 of all others is most esteemed on account of the . 

 beauty of its colour, and the durability of its sub- 

 stance, is the common red Coral, which is the Gor- 

 goniap retiosa of modern naturalists. Red Coral is 

 a native both of the European and Indian seas - } 

 adhering to rocks, and growing in an inverted po- 

 sition. When recent, it is covered with a soft 



