CORALLINES. 
141 
the sailors trim the sail and sing with a slow and monotonous tone a 
K °ng, the words of which improvise in a sort of psalmody the names 
°f the saints most revered among the seafaring Italian population. 
The lines are finally brought home, tearing or breaking blocks of 
v °ck, sometimes of enormous size, which are brought on board. The 
cross is now placed on the side of the vessel, the lines are arranged on 
the deck, and the crew occupy themselves in gathering the results ol 
their labour. The coral is gathered together, the branches of the 
Precious zoophyte are cleansed, and divested of the shells and other 
Parasitic products which accompany them; finally, the produce is 
carried to and sold in the ports of Messina, Naples, Genoa, or Leghorn, 
"’here the worker’s in jewelry purchase them. Behold, fair reader, 
'with what hard labour, fatigue, and peril, the elegant bijouterie with 
w hich you are decked is torn from the deepest bed of the ocean ! 
HI. THE PENNATTJLIDH5, OR SEA-PEN. 
This curious family received from Cuvier the name of Swimming polypi, 
atl d from Lamarck that of Floating polypi. The name of Pennatuhe, 
% which they are generally known, is taken from their resemblance 
to a quill, penna. In the words of Lamarck, “ it seems as if Nature, 
" forming this composite animal, had wished to copy the external form 
ot ‘ a bird’s feather.” Our fishermen call it the code’s comb, which is not 
ma pt, but less expressive of its peculiarities. This polypier is “ from 
tw ° to four inches in length, of a uniform purplish-red colour, except at 
*ho hip or base of the stalk, where it is pale orange-yellow ; the skin is 
fhickish, very tough, and of a curious structure, being composed of 
juinute crystalline cylinders, densely arranged in straight lines, and 
held together by a tenacious glutinous matter, the cylinders being 
a hout six inches in diameter, in length straight and even, or some- 
hiues slightly curved, and of a red colour, which communicates itself 
f° the zoophyte.” (Johnston.) The animals by which it is formed con- 
stitute colonies, which, however, are only attached to the rocks by an 
enlarged basis ; it appears to live generally at the bottom of the sea ; 
root, if we can use the term, buried in the sands or mud ; its 
P°lypiferous portion sallying out into the water. The agitation of the 
Wa ves and the fishermen’s nets often displace these aggregates of 
Nation, and then they float at various depths in the bosom of the ocean. 
