ZOANTHAPJA. 
157 
It is a polypier in form of a fan, with many very unequal branches ; 
the larger branches are smooth, the middle-sized are covered with 
Sr Qall points. This fine zoophyte is found in the seas which surround 
Isle of Bourbon and the Mauritius, a fine example of which 
18 to be seen in the collection of the Museum of Natural History of 
Paris. 
Astiueacea. 
How diversified are the forms of aquatic life ! “ Nature revels in 
these diversities,” to paraphrase the saying of one of the ancient kings 
°t France. Here are animals, the frame of which might have been 
Fig. ?o. Astrea punctifora (Lamarck). 
® s »gued by a geometrician. They are called Sea-stars {Astrea). 
^ ei r resemblance to the well-known figure was too striking to escape 
0 £ 6 Nervation of naturalists ; but the organization of these creatures 
the ocean is far from being rigorously regular, for Nature rarely 
Ploys perfectly straight lines, giving an evident preference to circles 
11 Waving lines. 
Sea-stars are animals without vertebrae, very frequently depressed or 
ta gonal, with arms nearly equal, and dispersed in rays, which are- 
liy 1 ' 0 ° r ^ 6SS triangular. The animal has habitually five arms. They 
a t ari immense depth in the ocean. In the exploring survey in the 
sev an ^ c ’ P re paratory to laying down the Atlantic Telegraph cable, 
j er al star-fishes were discovered at the depth of more than two 
Ul Hred and fifty fathoms, belonging to species of which traces are 
