62 THE OCEAN. 
veloping an axis of an evidently vegetable character. 
On placing the Coralline in vinegar, or other weak 
acid, the lime is dissolved, leaving the vegetable 
part coloured as before, which, though continuous 
through its length, is constricted at the parts which 
corresponded to the joints of the crust, and looks 
very much like one of the jointed Fuct. It is very 
common to see the broad, base without any jointed 
branches, for the former attains some size before 
the latter shoot, and may be seen in this state on 
almost every object between the range of high and 
low tide. It first appears as a thin, round, shelly 
patch of a purplish hue, on the shell of a Mollusk, 
or the frond of a Fucus, or the smooth rock, 
and gradually enlarges by additions at the edge, 
the progress of which is marked by concentric 
zones, or rings of a paler tint, till it sometimes 
attains several inches in diameter. It is tenacious 
of vitality, and when the branches are all torn off 
by the violence of the waves or other accidents, 
the base still lives on, and becomes studded with 
roundish knobs. This base, when growing on a 
soft calcareous rock, will often increase much in 
thickness, without showing any tendency to throw 
out its jointed branches; or in situations where it 
is long uncovered by the tide, and exposed to the 
influence of the sun, it becomes “a softish white, 
leprous crust.” Its ordinary form, however, is by 
far the most pleasing, particularly when growing, as 
they delight to do, on the sides of the still, rocky 
pools already described, their bushy tufts grace- 
fully hanging over each other, like weeping wil- 
