The Sea-side Book. 2473 



geranium. The sea has its gardens as well as the land, and their denizens more 

 wonderful, for the flowers of the sea enjoy animal life. 



" It is common, in speaking of coral banks and islands, to attribute the formation 

 of these vast submarine deposits to the work of the polypes, and to extol the industry 

 of the little creatures in building up monuments whose vastness leaves the pyramids 

 an immeasurable distance behind. And, in some sense indeed, coral islands are their 

 work ; but scarcely in a higher sense than peat-bogs may be said to be the work of 

 mosses, or the coal-fields those of other classes of vegetables. In speaking of coral 

 islands as the work of the polypes, we lose sight of the fact that the island itself is 

 one vast polypidom, all whose living parts have, in the aggregate, as much individu- 

 ality — so far as they consist of a single species — as the polypidom of the Flustra we 

 have been examining. In coral banks several species unite together, and each, of 

 course, preserves its individuality ; but it is quite conceivable to suppose a single spe- 

 cies, forming a single mass, and gradually constituting a bank or island. Now, the 

 growth of the insular mass no more depends on the will of the polypes, of whose 

 branches it consists, than the growth of any other skeleton depends on the will of the 

 animal whose organs secrete it. 



" A very common zoophyte, frequently thrown up on sandy shores from deep water, 

 very different in aspect from the Flustra, but belonging to a neighbouring family of 

 animals, is what is commonly called dead men's toes or hands (Alcyonium digitatum). 

 This constitutes a fleshy, semi-transparent mass, coated with a tough orange-coloured 

 skin, and exceedingly sportive in shape : sometimes forming a mere crust on the sur- 

 face of the shell to which it adheres ; at other times pushing up a trunk which divides 

 into finger-like branches. As it lies on the shore it certainly offers few inducements 

 from its beauty, to recommend it to further notice ; yet it is one of the many natural 

 productions which only require to be looked at with a moderate attention to elicit from 

 them much that is curious and beautiful in structure. If a piece of this zoophyte, 

 newly cast up, be placed in a vessel of sea-water, it will soon acquire favour in our 

 eyes. The tough, orange skin, when closely looked at, will be found studded with in- 

 numerable star-like points, each furnished with eight rays, and marking the orifice of 

 the cell in which a polype is lodged. When the polypidom has remained a while in 

 the water, its polypes, if still alive, will gradually protrude themselves from the starry 

 points, pushing out a cylindrical body, clear as crystal, fluted like a column, and ter- 

 minated by a flower-like, eight-rayed mouth ; the whole surface, at last, becoming 

 densely clothed with these animated flowers. The unsightly aspect of the trunk 

 which reminded us of fingers or toes, is now forgotten, just as we forget the fleshy 

 branches of a Cactus when we see it clothed with its gorgeous flowers. Nor is the in- 

 ternal structure of our zoophyte less worthy of examination and admiration. Not to 

 speak of its minute anatomy, a simple longitudinal section, if examined with a mode- 

 rate lens, will reveal a complicated system of inosculating canals, which form a sort 

 of circulation through the mass, by connecting with the rest of the body the polvpe 

 cells, which are placed immediately under the outer skin. These tubes are bound to- 

 gether by a fibrous net- work, and lie imbedded in a transparent jelly, which forms the 

 fleshy part of the compound animal. The eggs are lodged in the tubes, and at length 

 discharged through the mouth. Such is the simple structure of these animals, which 

 are nevertheless arranged with as much care and nicety, in proportion to their organi- 

 zation, as we find in animals much higher in the scale of being." — p. 41. 



