COB 



[ 107] 



COB 



trees and plants, cast upon it by 

 the waves, a soil upon which they 

 rapidly vegetate. Wherever cir- 

 cumstances are compatible with 

 vegetable life there we find plants 

 arise. Islands formed by coral 

 reefs, which have risen above the 

 level of the ocean, become, in a 

 short time, covered with verdure. 

 The slightest crevice or irregularity 

 is sufficient to arrest the invisible 

 germs that are always floating in 

 the air, and affords the means of 

 sustenance to diminutive races of 

 lichens and mosses. These soon 

 overspread the surface, and are 

 followed, in the course of a few 

 years, by successive tribes of plants, 

 gradually increasing in size and 

 strength, till, at length, the island 

 is converted into a natural and 

 luxuriant garden. Entire trunks 

 of trees, carried by the rivers from 

 other countries, find here a resting- 

 place : with these come small 

 animals, such as insects, lizards, 

 &c., as the first inhabitants. Even 

 before the trees form a wood, the 

 sea-birds nestle here; strayed land- 

 birds take refuge in the bushes: 

 and at a much later period, man 

 appears, and builds his hut on 

 the fruitful soil. Phillips. Lyell. 

 JZbtzebue. Balcewell. 



COEALLI'GENOTJS. Producing coral. 

 The depth at which the coralli- 

 genous zoophyta commence their 

 labour is said not to exceed fifteen 

 or twenty fathoms. 



COEALLINE CEAG. The crag of Suffolk 

 consists of two portions, namely, 

 Red crag and Coralline crag. The 

 coralline crag is the older of the 

 two, and is a mass of soft marly 

 sands of a white colour. 



CO'EALLOLD. } (from coral and e?os, 



COEALLOI'DAL. j Gr.) Resembling 

 coral ; having the form of coral. 



COEALLO'IDES. (coralloides , Fr. seme 

 del corallo lianco, It.) Coral- wort; 

 the clavaria coralloides of Linnaeus. 



COBBIS. A bivalve genus of shells 

 belonging to the family Nymphacea 

 of Lamark ; it is equivalve, nearly 

 equilateral, oval, thick, ventricose, 

 the hinge has two lateral and two 

 cardinal teeth in each valve. The 

 only recent species, C. fimbriata, is 

 an inhabitant of the Indian ocean ; 

 several fossil species are recorded 

 from the eocene strata at Crignon, 

 and upwards of six are known in 

 the oolitic rocks of England. 

 Lycett. 



CO'EBTJLA. (corlula, Lat.) A genus 

 of bivalves belonging to the family 

 Corbulacea in Lamarck's arrange- 

 ment, and to that of Conchacea in 

 De Blainville's. The corbula is a 

 marine animal, found at depths 

 varying to thirteen fathoms, in 

 sandy mud. Some authors place 

 the genus corbula in Solen, others 

 in Mya. Corbulse are found both 

 fossil and recent. Fossil corbulse 

 occur in the London clay, calcaire 

 grossier, and Norfolk crag. They 

 are also found in the Shanklin 

 sand, at Parham, and elsewhere. 



COEBULA'CEA. A family of bivalves 

 in Lamarck's system, belonging to 

 the order Dimyaria, and compri- 

 sing the two genera Pandora and 

 Corbula. 



COEDI'EEITE. A mineral, so named 

 by Leonhard after Qordier. It is 

 better known as lolite, or prismatic 

 quartz, which see. 



COE-MAEINTJM. A genus of echinites, 

 characterized by the bilabiated 

 mouth being in the third region of 

 the axis of the base, and the 

 anus in the side of the truncated 

 extremity. In this genus, or, as 

 he terms it, family, Leske, with 

 Muller, includes spatangus, spata- 

 goides, brissus, and brissoides, not 

 considering the absence of the 

 groove to be a generic distinction. 

 Parkinson. 



COEI'NDO]*. Another name for corun- 

 dum or spinel. 



