14 G 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
a rudimentary polypier, furnished with very large polypes of a whitish 
colour. 
IV. THE ALCYONARIA PROPER. 
The beings which compose this group have the fleshy polypier 
always adherent, without axis or solid interior stem. They are divided 
into four families or tribes. One of these, the Cornularia, are zoo- 
phytes, and live in isolation, or gathered together in small numbers on 
the surface of a common membraniform 
expansion. The Cornularia cornucopia 
live on the coast of Naples, C. crassa on 
the Algerian coast. Other genera make 
their appearance on the coast of Scotland, 
of Norway, in the Red Sea, and in the 
Indian Ocean they appear in great num- 
bers. 
In the Alcyonaria, properly so called, 
the polypier is very thick, of a semi-carti- 
laginous consistence, granular, and rough 
to the touch. 
The genus Alcyonium is numerous in 
species and widely dispersed . A. digitatum 
is very common on our coasts, and on 
many parts of the coast scarcely a stone 
or shell is dredged up from deep water 
which does not serve as a support to some 
one or more species of Alcyonium. It is 
known by various popular names by our 
sea-side population, such as cow's paps, 
from its resemblance to the teats of the 
cow — dead man’s fingers, from the occa- 
sional resemblance of its finger-like lobes 
to a man’s fingers. 
The polypidom is a simple obtuse process, the outer skin of which 
is tough and coriaceous, studded all over with star-like figures, which 
on examination are found to be divided into eight rays, indicating the 
number of the polypi enclosed in its transparent vesicular membrane. 
It is dotted with minute calcareous grains, and marked with eight 
