HALF AN HOUR WITH CORALLINES. 



97 



" Sea-hair Coralline " (8. operculata, Fig. 48). It 

 will be found usually attached to seaweeds, and 

 growing to a height of from three to six inches. 

 The time to look out for it is after a storm, when 

 lumps as big as an orange are washed ashore. It 

 takes its popular name from the circumstance of its 



Fig. 48. 



Sertularia operculata. a. natural size ; 6. magnified. 



growing in tufts, like bunches of hair. Dr. John- 

 ston, in his work on zoophytes, remarks that it was 

 from the great resemblance of the cells to the 

 capsules of mosses that the earlier botanists drew 

 conclusions respecting the vegetable character of 

 corallines ; an idea not yet exploded, and which is 



H 



