opinions which have arifen amongft philofophical en- 

 quirers, relative to their real nature, and the rank 

 which they ihould hold in the fcale of beings. Many 

 of the fpecics of this clafs have, by the ancient wri- 

 ters and feveral of the moderns likewife, been defcri- 

 bed as vegetables ; but from the unwearied attention 

 of fome learned naturalifts to this fubjeel, it was at 

 length difcovcred, and feems now pretty generally ad- 

 mitted, that they are in reality of an animal nature, 

 and that the ftrong refemblance which many of them 

 bear to vegetables, is to be coniidcrcd as entirely ow- 

 ing to the operation of the animals which formed them. 

 In a publication of this nature, it will not be ex- 

 pected, that a particular inveftigation of the arguments 

 on both fides of this curious fubjec c t ihould be intro- 

 duced : we fhall therefore refer fuch of our readers 

 who may wifh for more circumftantial defcriptions, to 

 the Philofophical Tranfa&ions, the Memoirs of the 

 French Academy ; and more particularly to the works 

 of the late Mr. Ellis, where the fulleft information may 



be found. 



The whole tribe of the marine fubflances, known by 

 the general names of Corals and Corallines, (with fome 

 animals of a different kind,) are arranged in the Lin- 

 nsean Syftem under two divifions, viz. Lithophyta and 

 Zoophyta. In the latter of thefe, or Zoophytes, the 

 animal nature predominates more apparently than in 

 the former ; and indeed thefe beings (as the name im- 

 ports) feem rather to be a compofition of animal and 

 vegetable; whereas in the Lithophytes, or other Lin- 

 naean divifion, the ftony or calcareous part prcdomi- 



nates 



