CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMAL PEEPAKATIONS. 415 



Gorgonia. — Allied to Alcyonium is another family of 

 Zoophytes, termed Gorgoniadae, which, like the preceding, 

 abound in spicula of various shapes ; these may be obtained 

 in a similar manner, either by sections, by maceration, by 

 burning, or by boiling in caustic potash. The British species, 

 according to Dr. Johnston, are five or six in number ; but in 

 other parts of the globe they are very abundant. Mr. 

 Topping, and the other preparers of microscopic objects, 

 supply a large number of varieties of spicula, almost all of 

 which are obtained from foreign specimens. They are often 

 of a beautiful pink colour, and, when mounted in Canada 

 balsam, are objects of great interest. The following species 

 are inhabitants of the British seas : — 



Gorgonia verrucosa ; G. pinnata ; G. Placonius ; G. anceps ; 

 Primnoa lepadifera. ' 



Corals. — These are best examined by horizontal and vertical 

 sections ; if the animal matter only is required, the sections 

 may be macerated in hydrochloric acid, to which five or six 

 times its bulk of water has been added. Mr. Bowerbank has 

 paid considerable attention to the structure of the CorallidEe, 

 and to his published paper in the volume of the Fhilosophical 

 Transactions for 1842, the author would refer those who are 

 anxious for information on these points. 



Zoophytes. — ^Residents or occasional visitors at the sea-side, 

 when provided with a microscope, will have abundant oppor- 

 tunities of examining some of these most elegant of animal 

 forms. Scarcely a piece of sea-weed or fragment of shell will 

 be found, that does not afford a habitation for some member 

 of this interesting family. Some choose for their dwelling- 

 place the depths of the ocean, whilst others are found in 

 localities that are left high and dry at every ebb tide. The 

 inhabitants of the deep water are procured by an operation 

 termed dredging, whilst the others can be very well collected 

 at low water, as they are generally adherent to sea-weeds, or 

 to old shells or pebbles ; amongst the most common are the 

 various species of Plumularia, Sertularia, Tubularia, and 

 Bowerbankia, all of which are most beautiful objects for 



