CLASS III. — ORDER II. 
GENERA AND SPECIES. 
The Polypidoms of this order (formerly all included 
under the denomination of Gorgonieae) are tree- 
formed, and inarticulate: the interior consists of an 
axe, generally horny and flexible, but sometimes of 
sufficient hardness to receive a high polish ; at others 
it consists of a whitish substance, very soft, and re- 
sembling cork ; this axe is enveloped in an exterior 
which is gelatinous and fugitive, or fleshy and solid, 
animated, and frequently irritable, becoming more or 
less chalky when dry, and enclosing the animals as well 
as their cells when there are any. 
