him, elfe its peculiar elegance of ftru&ure would doubilefs have fo far attraCted 
his notice, that he would not have failed to have given an accurate reprefen- 
tation of it in his plates. As it is, therefore, here firft delineated, and the memo- 
rial of its peculiar ftru&ure preferved by the engraving, it is characterized, 
« Peacock. ’s Feather Coralline;’’ for the refemblance it bears to that beau- 
tiful plumage is more than merely fanciful. 
Every fpecific diftinCtion which may diferiminate individuals among that end- 
lefs diverlity of engaging forms of cells, which thefe wonderful artificers produce, 
becomes an addition to the arrangements in their general hiltory, and widens the 
fcope of our admiration ; which, however kindled, is the molt pleafing fruit, that 
philofophical difeernment of their various ftrufilure and beauty can afford. 
There is a fpecies of very minute and tender bivalve, b-i, which adheres to 
the fides of the coral tubes by a kind of fhort ftalk. This ftalk fupports the un- 
der (hell like a cup, after (on the death of the animal) the upper one has fallen 
away. In thefe cups, the young corals of the more diminutive and delicate or- 
ders, feem to find a favourable refidence to rear their infant tubes. In fome, 
the firft fhoots of fponges were beginning to weave the intricate mazes of their 
web. In the one exhibited in the plate, a very beautiful duller of corals occu- 
pied the whole cavity ; the tubular cells* difpofed with great fymmetry in cir- 
cular rows, produced a very pleafing and ornamental effeft. The tubes are all con- 
neCled at their bafes, as obfervable in the magnified reprefentation b ; and they 
fpread at the mouth into five thorny points, to proteCl the cell ; the various ap- 
pearances which they exhibited in leveral different points of view, are fhewn by 
the figures at e, e. Thefe fmall ftiells, with their ufual contents-, are generally 
fo brittle, that the leaft inattentive preffure would crulh them to powder; fo 
that it is probable they could exift no where but in thofe clofe grottos wrought by 
the ftrong furrounding coral, and confequently are no where elfe to be found. 
It is therefore to be efteemed fo far fortunate, to have fuch large {lores of thefe 
corals at hand, wherein to fearch for new and uncommon fpecies ; and it may 
be readily trufted, that this engaging refearch will not be negkded. 
