ZOOPHYTES, 
tropical seas, are formed by very minute zoo- 
phytes. These reefs, in some regions of the 
earth, have been traced for a thousand miles in- 
length, forty or fifty miles in breadth, and to 
depths sometimes unfathomable ; yet they are 
the work of the most minute animals in the crea- 
tion. We find, too, whole beds of rocks, even 
entire hills of very old formation, extending for 
hundreds of miles, characterized by the corals 
they contain ; thus proving, that these animals 
also existed in countless numbers in a former 
condition of our earth, and that then, as at pre- 
sent, they assisted materially in adding to the 
solid matter of the globe. Zoophytes, from the 
simplicity of their structure, and the geognostic 
relations of the rocks in which they are occasion- 
ally found, appear to have been called into ex- 
istence before the other classes of animals. 
Of this numerous class of animals, many ge- 
nera occur on the coasts of Africa. 
The Aster iaSy or star-fish, one of the most com- 
mon of the zoophytic genera, is met with in many 
quarters. Of the species, one of the most beau- 
tiful and singular is that named Arborescent 
star-fish (Asterias caput Medusce, Lin,), which is 
occasionally taken off the Cape of Good Hope. 
The celebrated Guinea- worm (Fiiaria medinen^ 
sie^ Gm.) is very common in the warm regions of 
