30 GORGONIAS. 
Va.uE.—Eighty thousand pounds have been collected in one year. 
In 1873 Algeria alone employed 311 vessels and 3,150 men, realizing 
$565,000. The entire yearly collection is valued at over $1,000,000. 
Sea-Fans (Gorgonias).—The Gorgonias (Fig. 28) grow 
in the shape of fans or plumes, branching like trees and 
shrubs. ‘The stock secreted is either horny or calcareous, 
Those of the Florida reef are often three feet high and 
two wide, while the Primnoa, found on the Banks of New- 
Fic. 28.—Sea-fan. 
foundland, grows to a height of over five feet, the branches 
or stem being as thick as a boy’s arm. Their surfaces 
are network, through which are delicate canals connect- 
ing the animals. On the Gorgonia flabellum lives a shell 
of the same color—a curious case-of mimicry. 
VALUE.—They are made into whips, canes, etc. 
Sea-Pens (Pennatulida).—The sea-pens are fixed or 
free-swimming polyps. A gigantic one (Umdéellularia), 
four feet high, lives in the Arctic regions, a mile and a 
half from the surface; another, ten inches long (Veretil- 
