POLYPES THE CORAL. 



ils circuml'eience. Vaiious sinuosities appear towarJs 

 its centre. Tliese are sometimes trigonal, sometimes 

 tliey intersect one another, and sometimes they work 

 irregularly to and fro ; while between and about them 

 are reddish folds and bright alternate spaces which 

 radiate towards the circumference. In the section of a 

 very red coral, the colour is not equally difl'used, but 

 g.ithered in zones or belts of more or less intensity, which 

 contain very thin preparations that crack parallel to the 

 margin of the plate, in such wise as to reproduce the 

 festoons on their circumference. Hence we infer that 

 the stem increases by tlie regular deposit of concentric 

 layers, which mould themselves one upon the otiier. 

 Various small corpuscles are distributed through the 

 coral mass, which are charged with irregidar asperities 

 of a deeper tint than the tissue wherein they lie 

 embedded. These are more numerous in the dark 

 llian in the light red hand, and necessarily intensifij the 

 general shade of colour. 



We have described the various processes of repro- 

 duction and transformation peculiar to the polype. 

 How long a time each process occupies, our naturalists 

 have not been able to determine. 



From Darwin we borrow the following particulars. — 



Several genera [Flustra, Eschura, Cellaria, Cresia, 

 lud others), agree in having singular movable organs 

 attached to their cells. In the greater number of cases 

 the organs very closely resemble a vulture's head; but 

 the lower mandible can be opened much wider than a 

 leal bird's beak. The head itself possesses considerable 

 powers of movement, by means of a short neck. In 

 one Zoo])hyto the head itself was fixed, but the lower 

 jaw was free ; in another it was replaced by a triangular 

 hood, with a beautifully fitted trap-door, wliich evidently 

 answered to the lower mandil)le. In the greater number 

 of species examined by Dr. Darwin, each cell was pro- 

 vided with one head, but in others each cell had two. 



" The young cells at the end of the branches of 

 these corallines," continues Dr. Darwin, "contain quite 

 immature Polypi, yet the vulture heads attached to 

 them, thougli small, are in every respect perfect. 

 When one of the vulture-like heads was cut off from a 

 cell, the lower mandible retained its power of opening 

 and closing. Perhaps the most singular part of their 

 structure is, that when there are more than two rows 

 of cells on a branch, the central cells were furnished 

 with these appendages of only one-fourth the size of 

 the outside ones. Tlieir movements varied according 

 to the species; but in some I never saw the least 

 motion, while others, with the lower mandible generally 

 wide open, oscillated backwards and forwards at the 

 rate of about five seconds each turn ; others moved 

 ra])idly and by starts. When touched with a needle, 

 the beak generally seized the point so firmly thiit the 

 whole branch might be shaken." 



" What can be more remarkable," concludes our 

 great naturalist, "than to see a plant-like body pro- 

 ducing an egg, capable of swimming about and choos- 

 ing a proper place to a liere to, where it sprouts out 

 into branches, each crowded with innumerable dis- 

 tinct animals, often of complicated organization ! the 

 branches, moreover, sometimes possessing organs cap- 

 able of movement independent of the Polypi." 



AVe are now called upon to say a few words on the 

 fishing of coral. The species which form a commercial 

 staple are found in the Mediterranean basin, principally 

 at the mouth of the Adriatic, in the viciiuty of Bona 

 and Calle, and in the Strait of Bonifacio. 



On the Sicilian coast the fishery is conducted in a 

 very simple manner. The boats employed are of six 

 to lil'teen tons bmden, are strongly built, and rigged 

 with two sails, a lateen or mainsail, and a stay-sail or 

 jib. The crew consists of the pat/z-OHe, or master, and 

 seven or eight men. 



The fishers plunge into the sea a horizontal wooden 

 cross, whose arras are of equal length, and to which is 

 attached a heavy stone, leaving the lines arranged in 

 the form of a conical net. The apparatus carries thirty 

 of these, wdiich drag the sea-bed at a depth of two 

 hundred to three hundred and fifty feet. Some of the 

 fishermen alternately raise and lower this engine by 

 means of a capstan, wdiile their companions row slowly, 

 or trim their sails, so as to sweep the surface of a 

 certain area of rock. The apparatus seizes on the 

 rugged asperilies and projections, and raises them to let 

 them fall again. " In this manner the swab, floating 

 about, penetrates beneath the rocks where the coral is 

 found, and is hooked on to it. To fix the lines upon 

 the coial, and biing them home, is a work of incredible 

 toil. The engine long withstands the most energetic 

 and persistent exertions of the crew, who, exposed 

 almost naked to the burning sun of the Mediterranean, 

 work the capstan to which the cable is attached, while 

 the master incites and urges them to additional efforts, 

 and the sailors trim the sails, and chant in a slow 

 and monotonous tone a song, whose words improvise 

 in a kind of psalmodio rhythm the names of the saints 

 most revered by the seafaring population of Italy." 

 .\t length, the lines are hrouglit home, tearing or 

 breaking fragments of coral, sometimes of considerable 

 size, which are quickly stored in the ship's hold. The 

 branches are then cleansed, divested of the shells and 

 parasites which adhere to them, and finally conveyed 

 to Messina, Naples, Leghorn, or Genoa, for disposal to 

 workers in bijouterie. 



By the ancients coral was highly valued, and mar- 

 vellous properties were attributed to it. The Gauls 

 decorated their helmets with it, their bucklers, and 

 their other military insignia. The Ronuuia wore it 

 about their persons as a talisman or amulet, and as an 

 ornament agreeable to the gods. They also fashioned 

 it into collars or necklaces, to preserve their children 

 from contagious diseases. In many circumstances, they 

 thought preparations of coral excellent as a preveutive 

 of misfortune. 



It is not so long since even the French physicians 

 esteemed coral useful as a therapeutic agent. Liwery 

 had great faith in its tonic and invigorative properties. 

 These are not so certain, however, as its efficacy in 

 the shape of a toolh-powder, though in the latter case 

 its action is simply physical. 



Now-a-days it is prized as an ornament, rather than 

 as a medical remedy. Not only in Europe, but also iu 

 Africa and Asia, and especially iu Japan, it is made into 

 very elegant jewellery. 



The coral found on the coast of Franco is highly 



