CORAL-MAKING POLYPS. 



47 



the polyp ; and this is true of all the living Fungiae studied 

 by the author. It is plain that the power of such tentacles 

 must reside wholly in their lasso-cells. 



TENTACLE OP FUNGIA LACERA. 



The tentacles are scattered over the disk, instead of being 

 in regular circles. It is evident, from the figure, that the ap- 

 parent circles, where there is more than one, in Actinias, 

 arise from the crowding of the series of tentacles together ; 

 and also that the inner toav of tentacles in polyps is the older. 

 It will be noticed also that each of the tentacles stands where 

 a new ridge (or calcareous septum in the coral) begins. 



The Fungiae, unlike most corals, are not fixed animals 

 except in the young state. They are common in coral-reef 

 seas, lying over the sandy or rocky bottom between the other 

 corals. 



Other varieties of corals and coral animals are illustrated 

 in the figures on the following pages. They represent com- 

 pound groups, in which great numbers of polyps are con- 

 nected in a single zoophyte — a result, in part, of the process 

 of budding already alluded to, and partly of different modes 

 of growth connected therewith. 



This budding is very similar to the budding process in 

 vegetation. One common method is the same that is occa- 

 sionally met with in Actiniae, the description of which is 

 briefly given on page 40. The bud commences as a slight 



