£28 CLASS XIII, ORDER It, 
part within, naked at the base, the upper paré 
with generally lateral ramifications furnished with 
rows of tubular denticles, producing radiated po- 
lypes from each tube. 
_ALCYonIUM, (mushroem-coral,) animal general- 
dy growing in the form of a plant, stem fixed, 
fleshy, gelatinous, spongy or coriaceous, beset 
with polypi bearing stellate cells. 
Sponcta, (sponge,) animal fixed, flexile, torpid, 
ef various forms, composed either of reticulate 
fibres, or masses of small spines, interwoven to- 
gether, and clothed with a gelatinous flesh, full of 
small mouths on its surface, by which it absorbs, 
and rejects water, 
