JONES ON NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 15 



The following list of Gorgonim includes all the species at 

 present known to inhabit the Bermuda waters : — 



Or. ALCYONAEIA. 



Fam. GoRGONiD^. 

 Gen. Gorgonia, 



Gorgonia flabellum. 



This species, known to the inhabitants as the " sea fan," 

 is very common on the reefs, where it may be seen at low water 

 waving its palmate fronds to the action of the surf. In form it 

 is usually rounded, presenting a partially circular frame of net- 

 work much compressed. Although it generally grows in one 

 palmate frond, with a few small fronds sprouting out from, and 

 at right angles with the main stem, — yet it is not uncommon to 

 find specimens with several flabels growing from the same root j 

 and on looking down into the clear waters of the 'Mudian shore 

 this variety presents the appearance of a large cabbage with its 

 leaves much expanded. The sea fan, when first taken from the 

 water, is of a lovely dark purple, and although it fades if ex- 

 posed to the sun's rays or too great a display of light, yet if kept 

 in the shade, or in a darkened room, the purple remains for a 

 long period. In Castle Harbour this species is abundant, and 

 frequently does the boat of the collector brush through the 

 bending plumes of this curious form as it passes over the raised 

 coral patches which dot the shallow waters of that pretty land- 

 locked bay. Small portions of this gorgon, when cleared of the 

 external bark, are used by Bermudian cooks for skimming off" 

 impurities when boiling food, its sieve-like meshes acting as. 

 a strainer. These pieces are called "buskers." 



