CORALLINES. 
137 
all young, and indicating the definite form of development which the 
collective beings are to assume. 
The simple isolated state of 
the animal, whose phases of de- 
velopment we have indicated, 
hoes not last long. It possesses 
the property of producing new 
heings, as we have already said, 
hy budding. But how is the 
Polypier formed ? If we take a 
Ver y young branch, we find in 
the centre of the thickness of 
the 
crust a nucleus or stony 
Fig. 56. A young Coral Polype fixed upon a 
Rock. (Lacaze-Duthiers.) 
ciou a xj.u.^xc/u.0 vja 
^distance resembling an agglomeration of spicula. When they are 
sufficient in number and size, these nuclei form a kind of stony plate, 
which is imbedded in the thickness 
°f the tissues of the animal. These 
l&minse, at first quite flat, assume 
111 the course of their development 
a horse-shoe shape. Figs. 59 and 
tiO will glv e the reader some idea 
°t the form in which the young 
P°lypiers present themselves. Fig. 
represents the corpuscles in 
which the polypiers have their 
ui'igiu; Fig. go, the rudimentary form of the coralline polypier. 
Our information fails to convey any precise notion of the time 
Fig. 57. Young Coral Polype attached to a 
Rock and expanded. (Lacaze-Duthiers.) 
n ecessary for the coral to acquire the 
Various proportions in which it present s 
itself. 
Darwin, who examined some of these 
creatures very minutely, tells us that 
several genera (Flustra, Eschara, 
h'llaria, Cresia, and others) agree in 
having singular movable organs at- 
tached to their cells. The organs in 
the greater number of cases very closely resemble the head of a 
vulture ; hut the lower mandible can be opened much wider than a 
Fig. 58. A Rook covered with young Coral 
Polypes and Polypiers. (Lacaze-Duthiers.) 
