. . , [ 96 ] 
§ 4- Out of this trunk the branches (hoot, which 
commonly are few in number ; and they afterwards 
divide into feveral fmaller and flenderer branches. 
For the mod part, the branches are disjoined, and 
{land feparate ; but yet it is fometimes obferved, that 
two or more branches fpring from the foot united 
and parallel, and, as it were, clung together fo inti- 
mately, that the place of their union cannot be dif- 
tinguifhed. We frequently fee two branches adhere 
and unite in the fame manner, in whatever place they 
happen to touch : and I have likewife obferved, 
that, from two branches thus united, there arofe af- 
terwards but a fingle branch. 
§ 5. One thing feems to me worthy of notice ; 
which is, that, if a fhell happens to flick to the 
trunk or branches of the coral, it is in time furround- 
ed and covered, either in part, or in the whole, with 
the fame coralline matter, to which it {luck. 
§ 6. The greatefl height, to which I have feen 
coral rife in the Adriatic, is a Paris foot, or fome 
little matter more. And even this height is very rare 
in that fea. 
§ 7. The trunks, as well as the branches, are com- 
monly round ; and yet we frequently find, that fome 
are flatted and broad, of which 1 have fome fpeci- 
mens in my collection. 
§ 8. The foot, trunk, and branches of this fea- 
produdtion are of one uniform matter ; that is, they 
are formed of a fubflance homogeneous in all its 
parts, and of a bark or coat. 
§ 9. The fubftance forms the inward part of the 
•coral $ and this, even at the bottom of the fea, is of 
an hardnefs little inferior to that of marble. At the 
ends 
