616 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. 



Lect. VI. 



cells placed on foot-stalks, are also abundant on our shores. 

 PL V. fig. 2, is a magnified view of a branch of Campanu- 

 laria gelatinosa, with several cells ; in some the polypes 

 are expanded, in others contracted. Examined alive under 

 the microscope, currents of minute globules are seen con- 

 stantly running along the tubes, induced by the action of 

 the invisible cilia. 



17. The Gorgonia, or sea-fan. — The Gorgonia jla- 

 bellum, or Venus's fan (Lign. 13o), is a flexible coralline, 



Ltoff. 135. — Gorgonia flabellum; one-twentieth nat. n 

 (Brawn by Miss Ellen Maria Mantell.) 



which inhabits almost every sea, and frequently attains a 

 height of four or five feet. When fresh from the water it 

 is of a bright yellow colour. This species exhibits the 

 usual structure of the corticiferous polyparia, or zoophytes 

 which are composed of an internal axis or skeleton, of a 



