278 Mr. A. H. Hassall's Catalogue of Irish Zoophytes. 



spect to their stems, and animals with respect to their flo- 

 rescence." 



By a third party Zoophytes were deemed to be of a mineral 

 origin. This theory w^as particularly advocated by Henry 

 Baker : " The rocks in the sea on which these corals are pro- 

 duced/' he says, " are undoubtedly replete with mineral salts, 

 some w hereof, near their surface, being dissolved by the sea- 

 water, must consequently saturate with their saline particles 

 the water round them to a small distance, where, blending with 

 the stony matter with which the sea-water always abounds, 

 little masses will be constituted here and there and affixed to 

 the rocks. Such adhering masses may be termed roots, which 

 roots, attracting the saline and stony particles, according to 

 certain laws in nature, may produce branched or other figures, 

 and increase gradually by an apposition of particles becoming 

 thicker near the bottom, where the saline matter is more 

 abounding, but tapering or diminishing towards the extremi- 

 ties, where the mineral salts must be fewer in proportion to 

 their distance from the rock whence they originally proceed ; 

 and the different proportions of mineral saline particles of the 

 stony or other matter \\ herewith they are blended, and of 

 marine salt, which nuist have a considerable share in such 

 formations, may occasion all the variety we see. Nor does it 

 seem more difficult to imagine that the radiated, starry, or cel- 

 lular figures along the sides of these corals, or at the extre- 

 mities of their branches, may derive their production from 

 salts incorporated with the stony matter, than that the curious 

 delineations and appearances of minute shrubs and mosses on 

 slates, stones, etc., are owing to the shootings of salts inter- 

 mixed with mineral particles ; and yet these are generally al- 

 lowed to be the work of mineral steams or exhalations." It 

 is scarcely necessary to observe, that the whole of the theories 

 of which I have given but a very short outline, highly inge- 

 nious and interesting as they are, are yet untenable : the 

 beautiful and poetic hypothesis of Linnaeus is, however, the 

 nearest approximation to the truth. We learn from Dr. John- 

 ston's excellent ' Introduction to his British Zoophytes', from 

 which I have had occasion to quote largely, when speaking of 

 the opinions of Linnaeus, and to which I must again refer 

 when mentioning those of Ellis, that Ferrante Imperato, an 

 apothecary in Naples, was the first naturalist, according to 

 M. de Blainville, distinctly to publish as the result of his pro- 

 per observations the animality of corals and madrepores ; and 

 he is said to have accompanied the description of the species 

 which fell under his notice with illustrative figures of consi- 

 derable accuracy. His ' Historia Naturale' was printed at 



