C 419 ] 
LI 1 1. An Account of the Sea Pen, or Penna- 
tula Phofphorea of Linnaeus ; likewife a 
Defcription of a new Specks of Sea Pen, 
found on the Coafl of South-Carolina, with 
Obfervations on Sea-Pens in general. In a 
Letter to the Honourable Coote Molef- 
worth, hfq\ M D. and F. R. S. from 
John Ellis, Efq ; F. R. S. and Member of 
the Royal Academy at Upfal. 
Dear Sir, 
Read Dec. 22, 
j 76 3 - 
I Should make fome apology for de- 
ferring fo long the account I pro- 
mifed you of the Animal you were fo kind to lend 
me in February 1762, which was taken in a trawl 
in 72 fathoms water near the harbour of Bred in 
France; but a new fpecies coming to my hand 
occalioned this delay. This curious fea-produc- 
tion, I find, by your letter, you took for a new 
kind of coralline, and not without reafon, when up- 
on examining it (as it was not long taken out of the 
fea) there were dill remaining feveral of the fuckers 
like heads of Polypes difpofed along its fickle-fhaped 
Pinnulae. But when you hear of more of its proper- 
ties, you will agree with me, that it belongs to ano- 
ther clafs of Animals ; I fhall mention only oneatpre- 
fent, till I come to defcribe it more particularly, and 
that is, that it floats or fwims about freely in the 
fea; whereas Corals, Corallines, Alcyonia, and 
2 all 
