374 THE CORAL FISHERY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



To this day we possess but vague and indistinct accounts of the 

 processes of formation and reproduction of coral. 



M. Lacaze du Thiers, Professor of Science at Lille, who was charged 

 with a mission to the Coast of Algeria to report upon this zoophyte, has 

 given us the results of his investigation and curious experience. 



The following are extracts from his report presented to the Governor- 

 General : — 



" The lower or inferior animals have the power of producing, by 

 buds like vegetables, other individuals of the same kind. From these, 

 again, proceed others endowed with the like properties, which remain 

 connected, and produce, by their aggregation, masses of different forms, 

 according to the species. 



" To describe correctly a branch of coral, we must bear in mind this 

 peculiar property of germination which belongs to the immense class 

 of zoophytes, and we can then consider it as a colony of individuals 

 derived from one zoophyte, itself originating from an ovum or egg. 



"The stem of the coral is divisible into two constant and distinct 

 parts : a central axis, hard and brittle, like stone, which is the part used 

 in commerce, and a soft covering or epidermis, which easily yields to 

 the nail when it is fresh, bat is friable or brittle when dry. 



" This epidermis appears indented by small cavities upon its surface, 

 and we can often perceive radiated pores corresponding to these cavi- 

 ties. In observing the live coral, we see that out of these holes protrude 

 the little flowers that the naturalists Maligny and Peissonnel recognised 

 as the animals, and wdiich they compared to small sea-nettles. 



" Nothing can equal the delicacy and graceful disposition of these 

 little milk-white rosettes, which contrast admirably with the brilliant 

 red of the coral. 



" Their arms which surround their mouths, are ciliated, or covered 

 with fine fringes which, ever moving and agitating the water, create a 

 circular current that carries to the centre, and consequently into their 

 mouths, the minute matters that sustain them. 



" The epidermis is composed of a veiy delicate white tissue, and 

 presents through its whole thickness the long cavities of the polypes. 

 It is traversed by canals, which are very numerous, and establish a 

 solidity between all parts, sprinkled with small calcareous corpuscles, 

 hard, resisting, and all armed with unassailable bundles of points, 

 having a special form. 



" The structure of the animals is otherwise very simple ; they pre- 

 sent the appearan ce of a pocket or of an open purse. The mouth is 

 surrounded with arms, and conducts to the central or penetrating cavity 

 the food, and there we find eight lamillae radiating towards the centre. 



" We do not remark, as analogous to the organs of circulation, the 

 ramifying vessels which establish an union between the different indi- 

 viduals in carrying into their chief cavity the liquids that digestion has 



