corally bottom. They generally are found occupying the cavities of the {loner,, whj c j 
have been previously perforated by various fpecies of pholas"'s : the pholas’s have di 
away, and thefe artful vifitants find a banquet in the (lime of their deferred chambers- 
With a wonderful dexterity they twid their brittle frames uninjured throughout ^ 
windings of the fmalleft perforations ; but very little violence offered, in feizmg . 
retaining them in one place, will break off a part or detach a whole ray. In the cour ^ 
of infpe&ing their operations this Sometimes happened ; and, after repeated exarnin^ 
tion, the feparated rays continued to move with inherent life, and exerred an a . l d ivl ( ^' 
as if no reparation from the circular body had taken place. This fuggefted an >de a 
fome extraordinary mode of exiftence, which preferved its animation after the conn e 
tion with its primary fource of life was broken, and led to a more attentive exami^ 
tion of parts of the ray with the microfcope, the refult of which was attended with 
fmall degree of ftirprife. , e 
From the appearance of an arrangement of fhort thickfet hairs, that run along v . ^ 
edges of the rays, one char after of them has been given by natural ids in the denoh 1 ^ 
nation hirjute ; thefe, when largely magnified, appear to be a kind of tranfp aI \. 
bridles or fpines, themfelves hirfute on the fides, as in the fpecimen c c; and an in ^ 
vidual ipine, put under more powerful glades, difclofed a fuperior order of beauty 
at d, which deemed to indicate fome coniultation of nature that had reference to ' 
ther than vifible ufe. — When Mr. Ellis laid before the Royal Society his fird ob* e , 
•vations on Corallines, be hefitated to affirm the various life which he apprehen 
them to poffefs, until longer attention fully unfolded to him their Angular pr°p ertl ^ 
The author of thefe remarks feels h.imfelf in a fimilar fituation, in adventuring 
fugged the probable nature of the fpines of this dar, as it is a circumdance whieffi 
the bed of his knowledge, has never been yet gue.fied at; but which when evin^ e ^ 
opens a mod wonderful field for reflection on the amazing expedients for difF ai1 ^ 
and preferving life, wherewith thofe regions teem, which, covered with the deep, 
in a great meafure inacceffible to the human race. , f e 
Should every fpine along the rays of this dar be inveded with arrangements o, m ^ 
living dowers that a&uate the corallines, what a wonderful life mud the ani> . 
fydem podefs am: cl fuch a myriad of energies ! Of guardian fpiculas, fuch as d ete ^ a 
the dwellings of the coral polypes, there generally is not lefs than thirty on a fpine. 311 ^ 
hundred fpines are often on a ray — there may then be found fifteen thoufand of £l , 
adrive bloffoms of life, which, while they indulge their play, and drink in the vl 
fpirit of the tide, are engaged in adminidering to the nourifhment of a fingle *j s 
Such a profufion of vital array, in a beauty and order fo fcldom feen, and which i ^ 
fo difficult to obtain a clear infpefrion of, is fuch a provifion of nature for the am 1 ^ 
tion of her offspring, as equally eludes our underdanding, as it furpaffes the kec 
glance of admiration in any adequate degree to apprehend. - g. 
Yet the exquifite ftru&ure of thefe fpines, the arrangement of the fpiculm, ck'P^j 
tion of the cells under them, as in the very highly magnified fpecimen of ‘ e 
their furprifing refemblance to the infant corals, delineated fig. a, and A,of N*i 4>; e j eS( 
no room for a doubt, that the above aeconomy of nature, amid her infinite var ’ e 0 { 
is one of the unrecorded, confultations, an additional link of the marvallous cn 31 
exiftence unfolded to human view. 
