168 
ZOOPHYTA ASTEROIDA. 
more or less compactly pressed according to the nature of the spe- 
cies. (Fig. 21.) The whole section presents a certain resemblance 
to a similar section of a dicotyledonous tree : (Fig. 20.) the me- 
dulla in position and outward appearance is a pith ; the horny 
axis is the wood ; and the fleshy crust has been denominated the 
bark; # — nor perhaps could fault be found with this language, 
since it is sufficiently illustrative, had it not been the mother of 
some very erroneous notions, and a great means of their propa- 
gation and continuance. Thus Linnaeus, in his definition of 
Gorgonia, calls the axis a vegetating stem ; and as if this was 
not sufficiently explicit, we find Pallas entering into detail and. 
telling us that the concentric circles are produced by successive 
transmutations of the fleshy crust, in the same manner that the 
circles of the wood of trees are formed by transformations of the 
inner layers of the bark.* * * § )* And this opinion, if we may judge 
from their language, has been adopted by many, and even re- 
cent, authors, though Ellis had previous to its promulgation^, 
Fig. 20. Fig. 21. 
and also shortly afterwards, demonstrated that there was not on- 
ly no real resemblance, but such remarkable differences as 
rendered the hypothesis altogether untenable. § The pith of 
* Lin. Syst. 1*289. 
f Elench. p. 162. He seems, however, to have had his suspicions that the 
theory was questionable, for he adds — “ Quanquam diversissima corticis natura, 
ejusdemque facilis a ligno separatio, suggerere possent : hujus strata potius ex 
deposito intus succo fieri, aut lignum, prout ossa animalium sanguineorum intra 
periosteum, generari, augeri, durescere.” 
\ Coral. 65. Lin. Corresp. i. 225. Phil. Trans, (an. 1776)abridg. xiii. 721. 
§ What then could induce Blumenbach, so late as in 1825, to write thus? — 
“ The stems appear to be really vegetables (the woody nature of which in the 
larger ones cannot be mistaken) incrusted with corals.” — Man. of Nat. Hist. 
Trans, p. 271- 
