2:8 



CORALLINES. 



they seem as though they could be of little use in procuring food. On watch- 

 ing a living specimen, however, their efficiency is soon rendered manifest. No 

 sooner does a passing animal impinge against one of these filaments than it 

 is seized upon by the lasso-threads, with which they are armed, and held with 

 mortal grasp. The mouth of the Coryne is not a simple orifice, but a pro- 

 trusible and flexible proboscis, the extremity of which can be directed towards 

 any tentacle whereunto the prey happens to be adherent, and thus the creature 

 feeds itself exactly in the same manner as the hydra described above. 



The Tube Hydra (Tubularia)* constructed very much after the same 

 plan as the preceding, resides in a slender horny tube 

 resembling a straw full of mucilaginous pith, rooted on 

 a solid substance below, and crowned by a living head, 

 resembling a fine scarlet blossom with a double row of 

 tentacula, and often with pendent clusters like grapes. 

 Though perfect as a single stem, it is seldom found 

 solitary ; from ten to one hundred and fifty stalks are 

 generally crowded together, and constitute a brilliant 

 group,too gorgeously coloured to be effectively portrayed 

 by art. The tallest specimens rise thirteen inches high, 

 and are generally found on dead shells. The heads, 

 or hydr<z, are not retractile into the tube ; but, strange 

 to say, are continually falling off, and are replaced. Six 

 have been seen to be thus reproduced, one after the 

 other, in six months. Dwelling among the ravenous 

 inhabitants of the deep, the delicate organs of these 

 defenceless beings are thus subject to continual de- 

 struction; but if they should be mutilated, torn asunder, 

 or divided, they again rise unhurt. Wounds or lace- 

 rations do not impair the vital principle, and thus abun- 

 dance is secured the widow's cruse is constantly 

 replenished. 



The Sea- Wreaths (Sertularief) t are known to every sea-side visitor. In 

 these elegant productions the stem is generally branched into innumerable 

 arborescent forms, so plant-like in their aspect, that when gathered on the 

 beach, they are not unfrequently confounded by our lady friends, under the 

 name of " sea-weeds," with sundry vegetable growths of kindred appearance, 

 and sometimes, spread out by fairy fingers and laid out in tasteful groups, they 

 seem themselves pathetically to join in the petition so often appended to them 

 by their fair collectors, 



"Oh, call us not weeds, but flowers of the sea ! " 



Beautiful, however, as these "sea-weeds" are when thus embalmed, we, for 

 our part, prefer to se,e them living in their native element, where they present 

 a spectacle of matchless interest, viewed even with an ordinary microscope. 

 When thus examined, they are found to be made up of branching tubes, along 

 the sides of which are ranged in close array little cells or cups, sometimes 

 many thousands in number. Each cell contains a hungry hydra, with its arms 

 spread out in search of food, ready to seize and drag into its mouth whatever 

 offers in the way of aliment. These Polype-cells are variously disposed in 

 different species, but they all agree in being sessile, that is, closely sitting on 



FlG. 20. TuBULARIA 

 INDIVISA. 



Tubulus, a little tube. 



t Sertula, a little ivrcath. 



