15^0 THE MADREPORE. 



and portions of earth worms were unobjectionable 

 to all. 



Dicquemare has recorded an experiment in which 

 an Actinia, being cut across transversely, instead of 

 healing up into a new basis, produced another mouth 

 and tentacula, so that an animal was formed which 

 caught its prey and fed at both ends at the same time. 

 The same power of reproduction belongs to the 

 Madrepore. One of the specimens which have been 

 in my vases for the last five mouths has just exhibited 

 to me a phenomenon exactly parallel. When it was 

 dislodged from its original rock, the fragment of stone 

 broke in such a manner, that only the very edge of 

 the base of the Coral remained in junction, all the 

 rest of the base (perhaps four-fifths) being exposed. 

 The stone, however, that adhered thus slenderly was 

 sufficient to keep the base of the Coral from contact 

 with the bottom of the vessel in which it has been 

 since kept ; and I have just discovered (Sept. 27th), 

 in casually taking it up, that a new disk, with mouth, 

 tentacles, and a new array of radiating plates, has 

 formed on what was originally the base. The proper 

 disk has retained full vigour and beauty, so that here 

 is a Madrepore with a head at each extremity. The 

 new disk is smaller in all its parts than the whole 

 one, but is perfect in its symmetry, and its colours 

 agree in their hues and distribution with those of the 

 their extremity ; as indeed was to be expected, since 

 it is not a new animal, but only a new growth of the 

 old ; just as any accidental variation of tint in a 

 flower, though liable to be lost when the race is 



