THE ZOOPHYTES. 59I 



The next division of the present order consists of 

 such animals as have softer stems, and are in genera! 

 not merely inhabitants of a stem or branches, but 

 are themselves in the form of a plant. Those best 

 known are the Corallines, the Sponges, and the 

 Polypes. 



The Corallines are composed of capillary- 

 tubes whose extremities pass through a calcareous 

 crust, and open into pores on the surface. They 

 are entirely submarine, and from their branches be- 

 ing finely divided and jointed, resembling some 

 species of Lichen, they have, till late years, been ar- 

 ranged by botanists with the cryptogamous plants. 

 In appearance they certainly approach very nearly 

 to some of the vegetables; but their calcareous co- 

 vering alone is sufficient demonstration of their be- 

 ing allied, in however humble a station, to a more 

 elevated order of beings. 



The Sponges consist of an entirely ramified mass 

 of capillary tubes, supposed by many to be the pro- 

 duction of a species of worms which are often found- 

 straying about their cavities. This idea is now, 

 however, nearly exploded. Others have imagined 

 them mere vegetables. But that they are possessed 

 of a living principle seems evident from the cir- 

 cumstance of their alternately contracting and dela- 

 ting their pores, and shrinking in some degree from 

 the touch whenever examined in their native wa- 

 ters. From their structure they are capable of ab- 

 sorbing nutriment from the fluid in which they 

 are by nature immersed. They are the most tor- 

 pid of all the Zoophytes. The species differ very 



