71 



which we may conclude that a continual absorption and 

 deposition goes on in this apparently inorganic mass. That 

 a vital action does take place in this calcareous base is con- 

 firmed by the collateral evidence of what takes place in the 

 larger species of other climates. Mr. Stutchbury in his 

 valuable paper on the growth of youug corals of the genus 

 Fmiyia, proves that the young are thrown off from the 

 parents, and that the cicatrices are afterwards filled up with 

 a fresh deposit of calcareous matter.* De la Beche also, in 

 his Manual of Geologyf quotes Mr. Lloyd as detaching some 

 '•' polypifers" from their place of growth on the Isthmus of 

 Panama, leaving them behind in pools for a day or two, and 

 as finding them afterwards fixed to the spot by a fresh secre- 

 tion of calcareous matter. These and other observations 

 scattered through numerous papers in the transactions of 

 learned societies, scarcely leave a doubt on the subject. 



Though these beings are of so low a grade in the scale of 

 life; yet they have exercised in ages past, and still continue 

 to exert a great influence in the history and economy of the 

 earth's surface. Though so insignificant and apparently, 

 even contemptible in themselves ; yet by their combined 

 energy and imperishable masonry they have raised 



A new creation in the secret deep. 

 Omnipotence wrought in them, with them, by them ; 

 Hence what Omnipotence alone could do 

 Worms did : 



and islands of importance and great beauty are every where 

 scattered through the South Seas; coral reefs are still form- 

 ing, and extending even to the waters edge, waiting for some 

 upheaving to convert the Ocean into dry land. The Geologist 

 tells us that in the earliest ages they had a more extended 

 range than at the present time. He considers them as indices 

 to the revolutions which the earth has undergone since the 

 Creation. Whether these speculations be true or false, yet 

 we must all confess that these worms have always held a 

 situation of vast Geological importance: — a situation, the 

 more we contemplate, the more miraculous it seems. 



MADREPHYLL^EA. 



Body cased with a solid calcareous cupped polypidom, 

 lamellated internally. 



CARYOPHYLLIA. Lamarck. 

 Generic Character: Animal like the Actinia; polypidom 



permanently fixed, simple, cylindrical or conoid, striated 



externally in a longitudinal direction, the top hollowed into 



a lamellated stellular cap. 



* Lin. Trans., vol. 16. + Geol. Manual, p. 151, 1832. 



