260 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1751. 



towards the root ; and after many observations he determines that what Marsigli 

 took for flowers were truly insects [worms.] 



Coral is equally red in the sea as out of it; and this redness is more shining when 

 just taken out of the water, than even when it is polished. The bark of coral, 

 by being dried, becomes somewhat pale. The extremities of its branches are 

 soft, to the length of 5 or 6 lines ; they are filled with a whitish juice tending 

 to yellow. The coral-fishers said, that in the month of May this juice some- 

 times appeared on the surface of the bark ; but this, notwithstanding great atten- 

 tion, our author could not observe. The body of coral, though hard, seems to 

 give way a little when pressed between the fingers ; and being broken at different 

 distances, when just taken from the water, there always came from it a small 

 quantity of milky juice through certain tubes, which appeared to be destined to- 

 wards the bark. 



Having inquired of the fishers in what direction the coral grew in the sea, they 

 acquainted him, where the depth of the sea permitted them to dive, that they 

 had found it growing sometimes perpendicularly downwards, sometimes horizon- 

 tally, and sometimes upwards. Having verified these observations during the 8 

 days he staid with the fishermen, he adds, that he had never found any pores 

 perceptible in the substance of the coral ; that there issued forth less milk from 

 the large branches, than from the smaller ones ; and that the first was harder 

 and less compressible. 



The bark of coral covers the whole plant from the root to the extremities of 

 the smallest branches. It will peel off"; but this is only when just taken out of 

 the water. After it has been exposed for a short time to the air, you cannot 

 detach it from the body of the coral, without rubbing it to powder. This bark 

 appears pierced with little holes, which answer to small cavities on the substance 

 of the coral. When you take off a piece of this bark, you observe an infinite 

 quantity of little tubes, which connect the bark to the plant, and a great number 

 of little glands adhering to these tubes ; but both one and the other do not dis- 

 tinctly appear, except when they are full of juice. It is from these tubes and 

 glands that the milky juice of coral issues forth. Besides these, you see in vari- 

 ous places the bark push itself outwards, where the substance of the coral is 

 hollowed, and formed into the little cells, taken notice of by Boccone and Mar- 

 sigli. In these you see little yellowish bodies, of the length of half a line, which 

 terminate at the holes in the bark ; and it is from these that the flowers appear. 



Our author has found branches of coral, which, having been broken, have 

 fallen on other branches, have fastened themselves there, and have thus conti- 

 nued to grow. He has found, when a piece of stone, or shells, or other hard 

 bodies, have offered themselves between the ramifications of coral, that it has 

 expanded itself over them, and inveloped them in its substance. He has seen 



