CORALLINE. 227 



Reaumur and Bernard de Jussieu finally recognised the value of the 

 discoveries and the validity of the reasoning of the naturalist of 

 Marseilles. When these illustrious sava7its became acquainted with 

 the experiments of Trembley upon the fresh-water Hydra ; when 

 they had themselves repeated them ; when they had made similar 

 observations on the sea anemone and alcyonium ; when they finally 

 discovered that on other so-called marine plants animals were found 

 similar to the hydra, so admirably described by Trembley ; they no 

 longer hesitated to render full justice to the views of their former 

 adversary. 



While Peyssonnel still lived forgotten at the Antilles, his scientific 

 labours were crowned with triumph at Paris ; but it was a sterile 

 triumph for him. Reaumur first gave to the animals which construct 

 the coral the name of Polyps, and Coral to the product itself, which 

 he at once recognised as the architectural product of the polyps. In 

 other words, Reaumur introduced to the world of Science the very 

 views which he had keenly contested with their author, and gave them 

 a nomenclature that still endures. But from that time the animal 

 nature of the precious coral has never been doubted. 



Without pausing to note the various authors who have given their 

 attention to the structure of this fine natural production, we shall at 

 once direct ours to the organisation of the animals and the construction 

 of the coral, as described by M . Duthiers. 



M. Lacaze-Duthiers, one of the Professors at the Jardin des 

 Plan tes, of Paris, published in 1864 a remarkable monograph, entitled 

 " L'Histoire Naturelle du Corail." This learned naturalist was charged 

 by the French Government, in i860, with a mission having for its 

 object the study of the coral from its natural history point of view. 

 His observations upon it are numerous and precise, and worthy of 

 the successor of Peyssonnel. 



A branch of living coral, if we may use the term, is an aggrega- 

 tion of animals derived from a first being by budding. They are 

 united among themselves by a common tissue, each seeming to enjoy 

 a life of its own, though participating in a common object. The 

 branch owes its origin to an egg, which produces a young animal, 

 which attaches itself soon after its birth, and from this is derived the 

 new beings which, by their united labours, produce the branch of 

 coral or polypidom. 



This branch is composed of two distinct parts : the one central, 

 of a hard, brittle, and stony nature, the well-known coral of com- 

 merce ; the other external, like the bark of a tree, soft and fleshy, 

 and easily impressed with the nail. This is essentially the layer of 



p 2 



