"ni 
eel, 
51 
° n is found not to exist only at the fleshy crust, or at the 
• es of the horny axis, lint throughout the extent of the 
^Posing surfaces. In some cases the union has taken place 
s °°n as the branches came in contact ; in others, and by far 
§ e most numerous, the axis has been rubbed half through 
j ■' then united. On one. occasion one branch had become 
^ tervy-eaved with three others, and where they touched they 
t u 'ame united in the crust and surfaces of the worn axis. So 
”’ a < the axis must, I think, he allowed to posses a vital power, 
j power which enables it to form new branches in its own 
l^h’re and to unite any points which may have been made 
by the friction of others. If the axis be inorganic and 
^vascular, these phenomena are to me inexplicable. 
C j * lie axis is frequently denuded for a considerable extent, 
^ er from accident or the incrustation of Corallines. From 
itif S °^ an< l UQe ' en nature of the crust it is very liable to be 
f: Hed with parasitic animals, such as the CeUepnra pumicosa, 
of a "y species of Serlularia and Tubulipora ; different kinds 
spades of which the L. Scalpellnm seems to prefer it to 
•'other situation. 
5,^00 Gorgoniadce are always firmly rooted to the rocks and 
e ^ tles on which they grow; and the crust and axis both 
f 0 m- tld th emselves over the surface and produce a firmer 
of° lln tv The pith does not extend into the root. The layers 
C hicb lh<? expanded root is formed, are more memlira- 
yjona, more loosely united, and not so solid as the layers 
Posing the trunk aud branches. 
4/ t , | lft second division, destitute of an axis, comprises the 
W JOn }dai of which there are three recognized British species, 
HhjJ'&ing to two genera. One of which, the Cydoniurn 
fr 0 er * of Fleming and Johnston, has since been removed 
Qjj» .| c» ' 
' ’be Asteriod Zoophytes, and placed among the sponges 
’t'alf 6 8 e nus Geodia. In my paper on the sponges of Corn- 
<if 
the 
published in the transactions of the Falmouth Poly. 
Society,* I expressed an opinion that the Cydoniurn 
1 1 Occupy a place between the true and a-polypns zoophy- 
tl ti|j. ®tch an opinion was formed from the inspection of 
Jo! tr ° ne specimen and was therefore liable to error; but Dr, 
8 i *P)e ° n ' n bis valuable work on British Sponges is of the 
Nu h ? pinion ; so that the native species of this division 
h * 0 111 now only to two. Under the Atcyonium digitalum 
< %( ^cie S bare I think been confounded but will here be 
fb separated as Al. sanguineum, from its colour. 
Hi C b borm of the Alcyonium is liable to great variations, 
a re chiefly dependent on the age ot the specimen ; 
Report for 1842. 
