SECT. IT. 



CAR YOPHYLLIJE. 



'35 



begins at the mouth, and is repeated every few weeks 

 during the second year of their lives. When they split 

 into segments, the broken ends of each segment bend 

 round and unite ; and the mouth, which at first is on one 

 side, being a portion of the old one, comes to the centre 

 of the disc, and in addition to the few old tentacles that 

 remain, new ones are added, with their interior cham- 

 bers, till they amount to five rows, and in this manner a 

 brood of young Caryophyllise is formed. 



During the second year of their soft state, these ma- 

 drepores increase by budding. The buds spring from the 

 base of the membranous covering, they expand, get 

 a mouth and tentacles, aid in feeding themselves by 

 greedily talking any small particles of animal food of- 

 fered to them, and seem also to share in the sustenance 

 provided by the mother, as they dilate when she is fed ; 

 ultimately they separate from her. These madrepores 

 have patches of a milk-white fluid substance, which unite 

 and almost cover the space between the mouths and the 

 rows of tentacles : in others of the madrepore tribe these 

 patches are purple, 

 green, yellow, or ul- 

 tramarine blue. The 

 Caryophyllise have 

 locomotion while 

 their skin is soft, 

 but no activity ; 

 they merely avoid 

 obstacles, and move 

 away from one an- 

 other; but, as soon 

 as they get their 

 hard calcareous 



coat, they become permanently fixed, and no longer 

 undergo division or gemmation, but lay eggs. 2 



2 ' Observations on the Caryophyllia Smithii,' by Mrs. Thynne, in the 

 Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Fig. 130. Lobophylla angulosa. 



