THE 



BRITISH NULLIPORES. 



The opinions of naturalists as to the nature of these pro- 

 ductions have ever been unsettled. Ellis by showing that, 

 ■when highly magnified, they appeared to be " full of small 

 pores,"" evidently believed that he had at the same time de- 

 monstrated their polypous origin. Pallas confesses that he 

 could not find the pores, although he had carefully sought 

 for them ; yet he deemed it to be scarcely credible that these 

 productions could be mere stony zoophytes destitute of 

 every soft organ or integument. Hence he was led to sus- 

 spect that when the Nullipores were alive in the sea, the sur- 

 face was covered with a certain animal coat or periosteum. 

 Schlosser had indeed informed him that no trace of any such 

 coat could be discovered on recent specimens dredged up in 

 Falmouth harbour ; but, adopting a groundless suggestion 

 of Sir Hans Sloanc'*s, Pallas met this objection to his hypo- 

 thesis, by expressing a belief that the Nullipore was not a 

 native of that harbour, but had been brought thither, by the 

 force of tlic tides and winds, from the American ocean. 

 Olivi has, however, since confirmed Schlosser''s observation. 



