XTI 
INTRODUCTION. 
lists to the subject by the publication of h |S 
remarkable experiments on the fresh vvatel 
polypes ; then Reaumur, recollecting Peyssonnel s 
papers, examined the subject for himself, and 
to compensate for his former caution advocated 
them with boldness. But though he did it with 
great eloquence and ability, yet they wei' e 
considered so extraordinary that they agaiij, 
sunk into oblivion, till Ellis, with the hand 0 
a master brought the whole subject clearly and 
convincingly to light. Ellis after a great dea 
of research and patient investigation, published 
his celebrated “ Essay on Corallines,” in which 
he placed their animal characters on so firm 3 
foundation, that they have ever since withstood 
the power of all assailants. He met, howeveb 
with opposition as powerful as it was fruitless’ 
for though all the most eminent men of ht 
day opposed him, yet his superior knowledge 
of the subject placed them entirely within h is 
power. The most influential of those w ; h° 
differed from him was Linnaeus, who at th 3 
time was in the zenith of his fame, and fl '° 111 
whose decision there was no appeal ; yet fi'° ,r ! 
Ellis’ reasonings, he altered his opinions sever 3 
times Heat first considered them to be purely 
vegetable, but afterwards thought the hoffy 
species might partake both of the animal ‘ arJ 
vegetable natures. On this subject his vie'^ 
were highly poetical; “ Zoophyta” he says 
a letter to Ellis, “ are constructed very 
in 
dif- 
ferently, living by a mere vegetable life, a . i ?‘ 
by „ .... — — — , 
are increased every year under their bark, 
trees, as appears from the annual rings in 
section of the trunk of the Gorgonia. They 3 ,| 
therefore vegetables, with flowers like sin 3 
animals, which you ha\e most beautifully f ( j 
lineated. All sub-marine plants are nourish 6 
