§ 24. ASTRiEA, PAVONIA, &c. 623 



In the Caryophyllia possessing more than one cell, each 

 cell contains an actiniform polype : one of those of C.fasci- 

 culata, which is of a bright green colour, is represented 

 PL V. fig. 4. In another genus, Pocillopora, the in- 

 vesting fleshy integument is beautifully mottled, and the 

 polypes, which are of a blue colour, are terminal, as in the 

 Caryophyllia. A branch, as seen alive in the water, is 

 figured in PL V. fig. 1 1 . 



23. Fungia. — The white, disciform, lamellated corals, 

 called Sea-mushrooms, or Fungia, from their fancied re- 

 semblance to fungi, are among the most elegant and abun- 

 dant forms of polyparia in the cabinets of collectors. These, 

 in a living state, are covered with a thick, transparent, 

 jelly-like substance, which fills up all the numerous radia- 

 ting interstices of the calcareous laminae ; in the central 

 depression of the fleshy mass is situated a large polype 

 with tentacula ; in the Fungia, there is but one polype — 

 but one focus of vitality. In the Fungia actiniformis (Ph 

 VI. fig. 15), the polype strikingly resembles the Actinia; 

 the whole surface of the disk is covered with long, tubular, 

 conical, prehensile tentacula, with minute terminal aper- 

 tures, and striated, transverse, muscular bands ; these ten- 

 tacula are protruded by the injection of water from below, 

 as in the Actinia. In the Fungia the stony base is secreted 

 from the inferior surface of the soft substance, and is 

 attached or cemented, as it were, to the rock. 



24. Astrjea, Pavonia, &c. — In some of the large stony 

 corals, the cells of the polypes are very numerous, and 

 the coralline mass presents a surface beautifully marked 

 with stellular impressions. The Astrcea viridis is here 

 represented as seen alive in the sea {PL VI. fig. 13). The 

 polypes in this coral are of a dark-green colour, six lines in 

 length, and are protected by deep, laminated, polygonal 

 cells, two lines in diameter. They are striated with longi- 

 tudinal and transverse bands, and connected by a fleshy 



