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only their Jiouse, in the building of which millions of tiny po- 

 lypes have taken part; while hundreds and thousands have al- 

 ready died, and their descendents at this day stretch forth their 

 tender prehensile arms, like little brushes or tiny feathery 

 crowns, from the pores of the coral tree. 



The precious coral Corallium rubrum , the universally 

 known species of this group, owes its great value to its beau- 

 tiful colour and capability of being highly polished , its stony 

 axis - skeleton being hard as marble. The ancients prized it 

 highly, but they had an entirely mistaken idea of its nature - 

 shared even now by very many people, according to which 

 the precious coral was a plant which was soft and pliable when 

 left in the sea , but became hard as stone when taken out. 

 Careful study has made us fully acquainted with the coarser 

 and finer construction, as well as with the habits and propa- 

 gation of the precious coral polype, and we know that the stony 

 substance in the form of beautiful branches and twigs, is the 

 product of the coral polypes, which have secreted it as the com- 

 mon support and skeleton of their soft vital parts. If we examine 

 a newly taken and living branch of coral, we find this calcareous 

 substance covered by a softer equally red rind, just as the trunk 

 of a real tree is covered by the bark; and if the coral-branch is 

 carefully hung in a large vessel of sea- water, we shall see, in 

 a short time, the little coral animals, like delicate white flower- 

 cups with eight feathery leaves, unfolding themselves at innu- 

 merable points on the surface of the branch. Each of these ani- 

 mals has the before-described structure of a polype, and is vi- 

 tally connected with all the other individuals by canals of nou- 

 rishment which intersect the rind in all directions. This rind, 

 like the stem, is also secreted by the animal, and consists of 

 innumerable microscopic calcareous particles like thorns. The in- 

 timate blending of these particles, which are deposited in strata, 

 produces the stem. This structure at once distinguishes the true- 

 coral from all imitations. 



The precious coral propagates by eggs and budding. There are 

 male and female stocks, as well as stocks that carry individuals 

 of each sex; and even hermaphrodites (male and female in one 

 individual) have been observed. In the egg, while yet in the 

 parent-body, is developed a longish pear-shaped larva, which 

 at first swims freely about, but presently attaches itself by one 

 end of its body to some rock, and develops into a coral polype, 

 which in its turn begets other individuals by budding , and 

 thus a new stock is commenced. 



