624 LINDSTRÖM, ON THE »CORALLIA BÅLTICA» OF LINN^US. 



1761. Fauna Sveda Ed. altera p. 536. 



1767. Systema Naturse, Ed. XII, Tomus 1, pars II, p. 1270 

 —1286, pars III, p. 167. 



1793. Systema Naturae, Ed. 13, Tom. VI, p. 3753—3790, 

 Tom. III p. 421. 



Descriptions of corals by LiNN^US occur sometimes in works 

 where nobody would think of looking for such. Thus, in »Man- 

 tissa plantarum altera», p. 547, where Calceola sandalina is 

 described for the first time. Works by such authors as Modéer, 

 Wahlenberg, who lived so near to Linn^us' times or even during 

 his lifetime, may with advantage be consulted to elucidate the 

 Linnean species. In his own copies of Systema Naturae, now in 

 the library of the Linnean Society, there are a few annotations 

 in his own hand, of some real importance. The library of the 

 Academy of Sciences contains several manuscript reports of lec- 

 tures by LiNN^us, written by pupils, but these do not contribute 

 much to our understanding^of his corals. 



The earliest evidence that LiNN^us paid very close atten- 

 tion to our fossil corals is found in the narrative of his tour in 

 Gotland^) in 1741. In it he several times refers to the corals 

 which lie scattered on the shores. So, for instance, on page 190 

 he says: »Every stoue» — on the shores of Capelshamn — »was 

 nothing eise but a coral, which is called Madrepora, so that 

 those persons, who hereafter wish to collect choice corals for 

 their cabinets of art or minerals, need not search in any other 

 locality, because every man in the world could here get a cart- 

 load of them». He further says that these Madreporae can grow 

 only in the depths of the sea, from which they are thrown up 

 on the shores. He evidently thought that the corals he saw on 

 the shores were still living in the Baltic, and he says that the 

 animals which build them up have not yet been described and 

 he leaves it to others who have more time and could choose calm 



") »Carl Linnsei Öländska och Gothländska Resa .... ähr 1741, Stockholm & 

 Upsala 1745.» I cannot find that there exists any other translatiou of this 

 book but one in German, edited by Schrebek, Halle, 1763. 



