244 BEEMUDA. 



CHAPTER XV. 



CORALS. 



Poly pifera — Alcyonium digitatum — Alcyonidium gelatinosum — 

 Alcyonidium echinatum — Asteroida — Fungia, or Sea-mush- 

 rooms — Meandrina cerebriformis, or Brainstone coral — Gor- 

 gonla — Isis hippuris — Gorgonia flabellum (or Sea-fan) — 

 Plabellum Veneris (or Venus' fan) — Gorgonia anceps — 

 Gorgonia verrucosa — Gorgonia placomus — Gorgonia lepidifera 

 — ActinesB (or Sea-anemones) — Holothurise (or Sea-slugs) — 

 Mammalia — Balssna mysticetus — Balsena nodosa — Reptilia. 



CoralUdce (or Corals). — The family of zoophytes 

 necessarily embraces many corals. They are as 

 interesting as they are important to man, being, 

 during the span of their existence, the original 

 founders of many countries, in which, when nature 

 has clothed them with luxuriant verdure, the human 

 family subsist in affluence and abundance. When 

 we see the profusion of fragrant vegetation and 

 delicious food almost spontaneously produced in these 

 lovely islands, it is startling to reflect that they 

 are almost entirely formed by the cells of deceased 



