240 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



with a slow and monotonous tone a song, the words of which impro- 

 vise in a sort of psalmody the names of the saints most revered 

 among the seafaring Italian population. 



The lines are finally brought home, tearing or breaking blocks of 

 rock, sometimes of enormous size, which are brought on board. The 

 cross is now placed on the side of the vessel, the lines are arranged 

 on the deck, and the crew occupy themselves in gathering the results 

 of their labour. The coral is gathered together, the branches of the 

 precious alcyonarian are cleansed, and divested of the shells and 

 other parasitic products which accompany them ; finally, the produce 

 is carried to and sold in the ports of Messina, Naples, Genoa, or 

 Leghorn, where the workers in jewellery purchase them. Behold, 

 fair reader, with what hard labour, fatigue, and peril, the elegant 

 bijouterie with which you are decked is torn from the deepest bed of 

 the ocean ! 



III. THE PENNATULID^, OR SEA-PENS. 



This curious family received from Cuvier the name of S^tjimming 

 Polyps, and from Lamarck that of Floating Polyps. The name of 

 Poinatiila^ by which they are now generally known, is taken from 

 their resemblance to a quill, penna. In the words of Lamarck, " It 

 seems as if Nature, in forming this composite animal, had wished to 

 copy the external form of a bird's feather." Our fishermen call it 

 the cock's comb, which is not inapt, but less expressive of its peculiari- 

 ties. One of these Sea-pens is described as being " from two to four 

 inches in length, of a uniform purplish-red colour, except at the tip 

 or base of the stalk, where it is pale orange-yellow ; the skin is 

 thickish, very tough, and of a curious structure, being composed of 

 minute crystalline cylinders, densely arranged in straight lines, and 

 held together by a tenacious glutinous matter, the cylinders being 

 about six inches in diameter, in length straight and even, or sometimes 

 slightly curved, and of a red colour, which communicates itself to the 

 zoophyte." (Johnston.) The animals by which it is formed consti- 

 tute colonies, which, however, are only attached to the rocks by the 

 enlarged basis of their stem ; they appear to live generally at the 

 bottom of the sea, their root, if we can use the term, buried in the 

 sands or mud, their polypiferous portion sallying into the water. 

 The agitation of the waves and the fishermen's nets often displace 

 these curious creatures, and then they float away at various depths 

 up to the bosom of the ocean. 



The stalk of their polypidom is hollow in the centre, having a 

 long slender bone-like substance, which is white, smooth, and square, 



