GORGONINAE. 223 
numerous branches. It is ardorescent when the branches and their 
accompaniments take different directions so as to constitute tufts. 
It is panicled when they arrange themselves on both sides of the stem 
or principal branches, after the manner of the barbs of a feather. It 
is flabelliform when the branches rise irregularly under the same 
plane ; reticulated, when branches are so 
disposed as to be attached to each other 
by net-work in place of remaining free. 
The Gorgonine are found in every sea, 
and always at considerable depths. They 
are larger and more numerous between 
the tropics than in cold or even tem- 
perate climates. Some of them scarcely 
attain the twelfth of an inch in height, 
while others rise to the height of several 
feet. 
Formed in the bosom of the ocean, it 
is only necessary to behold these singular 
creations in order to admire the brilliant 
colours which decorate their semi-mem- 
branaceous branches. The brilliancy of 
their colours is singularly diminished, has 
almost entirely disappeared indeed, when 
they make their appearance in the cases 
of our natural history collections. 
The Fan Gorgon (Gorgonia flabellum), 
from the Antilles (Fig. 78), is a species 
which often attains the height of eighteen _ Fig. 81. 
or twenty inches, and nearly as much in pai ey tear 
breadth. The network of its interstices, 
with its unequal and serried meshes, resembling fine lace, have led to 
its designation of Sea Fan. Its colour is yellow or reddish. In 
Fig. 79 we have a small portion of the Sea Fan magnified to twice its 
natural size, showing the curious details of its organisation. 
The Whorled Gorgon (G. verticellata), which is found in the 
Mediterranean, is yellowish in colour, and also of elegant form. This 
species is represented in Fig. 80; while Fig. 81 represents a small 
branch magnified four times, in order to give an exact idea of its 
form. 
The Gorgons are not known to be useful either in the arts or in 
medicine ; but they are deeply interesting as objects of study to the 
zoologist. 
