6 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



father, whose devotion to his fellow-citizens during the plague 

 cost him his life, and whose own discoveries were an honour to 

 his country. He received from the King, however, a mission to 

 explore the shores of Barbary, and was thus enabled to forward 

 additional observations to Paris. These, while giving rise to 

 fresh discussions and renewed combats in the Academy, caused 

 some, such as Flourens, to perceive the importance of Peys- 

 sonnel's discovery. Three members of the Academy, moreover, 

 after personally investigating the subject, ranged themselves on 

 the side of Peyssonnel, viz. Bernard de Jussieu, Reaumur, and 

 Guettard. Their notions, however, of the relation of the polyps 

 to the solid axis of the coral were inexact, especially those of 

 Reaumur, who compared the coral to the bee and its cells. 

 Fresh opposition was thus engendered to Peyssonnel's views, for 

 which he was not responsible. These memorable discussions, 

 however, decided by-and-by the position of the red coral. Hence- 

 forth it was admitted to be a product of animals. Yet here and 

 there doubts subsequently appeared. Thus Donati,* an Italian 

 naturalist, attempted to unite the diverse views of Marsigli and 

 Peyssonnel by asserting that red coral showed the vegetation of 

 a plant and the propagation of an animal, therefore it should be 

 placed in an intermediate position. This author gives a fair 

 account, with figures, of the polyps with their pinnate tentacles, 

 and of a section of the axis and caenosarc of the corallium. 

 He appears, however, to have been unable to shake off pre- 

 conceived notions. 



Such views, however, and those of Dr. Parsons in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions '+ to the effect that, though Peys- 

 sonnel did find animals on the coral, it need not be concluded 

 that they constructed it, gradually died away, and the investiga- 

 tions of Cavolini (1785) and Milne-Edwards on the one hand, and 

 the more recent work of Lacaze Duthiers on the other, did justice 

 to the researches of the young French surgeon and naturalist. 



Peyssonnel was thus the discoverer of the true nature of 

 coral, and he resolutely defended his views against the French 

 savants. Disgusted, however, at the reception his labours met 

 with, and the absence of all encouragement in his zoological 



* ' Delia Storia Naturale Marina dell' Adriatico, Venezia, 1750,' p. xliii, 

 tav. v. f 1751-1752, p. 505. 



