50 THE 0CEA2f. 



vegetable character. On placing the Coralline in 

 vinegar, or other weak acid, the lime is dissolved, 

 leaving the vegetable part coloured as before, which, 

 though continuous through its length, is constricted 

 at the parts which corresponded to the joints of the 

 crust, and looks very much like one of the jointed 

 Fuci. It is very common to see the broad base with- 

 out any jointed branches, for the former attains some 

 size before the latter shoot, and may be seen in this 

 state on almost every object between the range of 

 high and low tide. It first appears as a thin, round, 

 shelly patch of a purplish hue, on the shell of a 

 Mollusk, or the frond of a Fucus, or the smooth rock, 

 and gradually enlarges by additions at the edge, the 

 jDrogress of which is marked by concentric zones, 

 or rings of a paler tint, till it sometimes attains 

 several inches in diameter. It is tenacious of vi- 

 tality, and when the branches are all torn off by the 

 violence of the waves or other accidents, the base 

 still lives on, and becomes studded with roundish 

 knobs. This base, when growing on a soft calcareous 

 rock, will often increase much in thickness, without 

 showing any tendency to throw out its jointed 

 branches ; or in situations where it is long uncovered 

 by the tide, and exposed to the influence of the sun, 

 it becomes "a softish, white, leiwous crust." Its 

 ordinary form, however, is by far the most pleasing, 

 particularly when growing, as it delights tc do, on 

 the sides of the still, rocky pools already described, 

 its bushy tufts gracefully hanging over each other, 

 like weeping willows in miniature. Beyond its 

 "bea.uty I know not that this little creature has any 



