4 THE ZOOLOGIST 



a name, whilst they are in the meantime only cheating the 

 world, of which we have so many examples."* Leeuwenhoek 

 apparently could not satisfy himself as to whether the coral was 

 an accretion or a plant, being confused by the particles forming 

 the mass of the dried structure. 



Thus halting between a petrifaction and a plant, the posi- 

 tion of red coral was uncertain. About the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, however, a talented young French surgeon, 

 Peyssonnel, who had been initiated into the study of marine 

 organisms by Marsigli, and who was acquainted with the views 

 of the older authors in regard to anemones and other plant-like 

 animals, formed a very different opinion, and by a careful study 

 of the coral in a living and fresh condition, he discovered that 

 it was the formation of polypes. A native of Marseilles, and a 

 student of marine zoology from early days, he qualified in medi- 

 cine, and subsequently found opportunities to pursue his re- 

 searches on red coral. His familiarity with sea-life during 

 various voyages to America, St. Domingo, and Egypt enabled 

 him to join the rough coral fishermen in their boats on the 

 Algerian coral-grounds, which had been known to the Pisans in 

 the tenth century. 



Fully aware of what his master in zoology, Count Marsigli, 

 had discovered, viz. the flowers of the so-called coral-plant, 

 Peyssonnel, as soon as the coral was brought by the fishermen 

 near the surface, plunged a jar into the water and inserted 

 several branches. After some hours he noticed white points 

 over the surface, corresponding to the holes which pierced the 

 outer covering or so-called bark. Gradually expanding, these 

 points assumed a radiate structure, each somewhat resembling 

 the flower of the clove, as described by Marsigli. Continued 

 study of these structures convinced Peyssonnel that they were 

 truly coral " insects," each of which he termed urtica, purpura, or 

 polype, and which expands itself in water, and contracts itself 

 in air or when irritated. He thought that each polyp issued 

 from its cavity or cell in the bark, while in the tubes were the 

 organs of the animal, the glandules being the extremities of the 

 feet, and the whole containing the liquor or milk of coral, corre- 

 sponding to the blood and juices. 



* Philos. Trans. 1708-1709, p. 134. 



