J. D. Dana on Zoophites. 11 
very generally supposed that these are by far the most frequent, 
if not the only shapes presented ; but, on the contrary, the varie- 
ties are extremely numerous, as we have already intimated. 
no’ inapt designation for such species, Another foliated kind 
consists of leaves more crisped and of more delicate texture, 
irregularly clustered ;—/ettuce-coral would be a significant name. 
Each leaf has a surface covered with polyp-flowers, and was 
formed by the growth and secretion of these polyps. Clustered 
leaves of the acanthus and oak, are at once called to mind by 
other species ; a sprouting asparagus-bed by others. ‘The mush- 
room is here imitated in very many of its fantastic shapes, and 
other fungi, with mosses and lichens, add to the variety. 
Vases of Madrepores are common about the reefs of the Pa- 
cific. They stand on a cylindrical base, which is enveloped in 
flowers when alive, and consist of a network of branches and 
branchlets, spreading gracefully from a centre, covered above 
with crowded sprigs of tinted polyps. The vases in the collec- 
tions of the Expedition, at Washington, will bear out this de- 
ruder hillocks of Porites are sometimes twenty feet across. Be- 
sides 2 
ceed from the budding process. 
46. Buds grow from some part of the parent, generally ap- 
single Astrea dome, twelve feet in diameter,—each covering a 
square half inch,—we find it exceeding one hundred thousand ; 
and in a Porites, of the same dimensions, in which the animals 
are under a line in breadth, the number exceeds five and a half 
millions; there are here, consequently, five and a half millions 
of mouths and stomachs to a single zoophyte, a 
wing, an 
and au imperfect cellular or lacunal communication. There is 
hence every variety, as to number, among compound zoophytes, 
