CORAL FISHERY. 



369 



entangled by the net. There is also a legendary tale of aii 

 enchanted coral-tree, large and powerful as an oak, which is 

 said to grow in a deep grotto at the foot of Mont Alban, on 

 the Ligurian coast. It extends its arms when no danger is 

 nigh, but immediately withdraws them, like a cuttle-fish, at the 

 approach of an insidious enemy. This superstition is so firmly 



Isis hippuns. 



rooted that, while Professor Vogt was at Villafranca in 1865, a 

 " coralline " arrived from Torre del Greco for the purpose of 

 fishing for this imaginary prey. The " padrone " swore he 

 would not leave the neighbourhood before he had secured his 

 prize, hoping to enrich himself with the spoils, but doomed, no 

 doubt, to a grievous disappointment, and a considerable loss, on 

 a coast where but few ordinary corals are found. 



In the elegant Isis hippuns, which grows in the Indian Ocean, 



