CORAL AND VORAL MAKERS. 19 



into which the coral animals may withdraw for concealment 

 any more than the skeleton of a dog is its house or cell ; for 

 every part of the coral — or corallum as it is now called in sci- 

 ence — of a polyp, in most reef-making species, is enclosed 

 within the polyp, where it was formed by the secreting pro- 

 cess. 



It is not, perhaps, within the sphere of science to criticise 

 the poet. Yet we may say in this place, in view of the frequent 

 use of the lines even by scientific men, that more error in the 

 same compass could scarcely be found than in the part of 

 Montgomery's " Pelican Island " relating to coral formations. 

 The poetry of this excellent author is good, but the facts nearly 

 all errors — if literature allows of such an incongruity. There 

 is no " toil," no " skill," no " dwelling," no " sepulchre " in the 

 coral plantation any more than in a flower-garden ; and as lit- 

 tle are the coral polyps shapeless worms that " writhe and 

 shrink their tortuous bodies to grotesque dimensions." 



The poet oversteps his license, and besides degrades his 

 subject, when downright false to nature. 



Coral is made by organisms of four very different kinds. 

 These are : First, Polyps, the most important of coral-making 

 animals, the principal source of the coral reefs of the world. 



Second, Animals related to the little Hydra of fresh waters, 

 and called Hydeoids (a division under the Acalephs), which, 

 as Agassiz has shown, form the very common and often large 

 corals called Millepores. 



Third, The lowest tribe of Mollusks, called Beyozoans, 

 which produce delicate corals, sometimes branching and moss- 

 like (whence the name from the Greek for moss animal), and at 

 other times in broad plates, thick masses, and thin incrusta- 

 tions. Although of small importance as reef-makers at the 



