71 
Hich we uiay conclude that a continual absorption and 
1 e Posiiion goes on in this apparently inorganic mass. That 
? v *tal action does take place in this calcareous base is con- 
j'fnied by the collateral evidence of what takes place in the 
ar ger species of other climates. Mr. Stutchbury T in his 
pliable paper on the growth of young corals of the genus 
proves that the young are thrown off from the 
j' ar ents, and that the cicatrices are afterwards filled up with 
j 1 fresh deposit of calcareous matter.* He la Beebe also, in 
,{' 8 Manual of Geologyf quotes Mr. Lloyd as detaching some 
jjPolypifers” from their place of growth on the Isthmus of 
4 ^ania, leaving them behind iu pools for a day or two, and 
j. s finding them afterwards fixed to the spot by a fresh secre- 
j,' 011 of calcareous matter. These and other observations 
jittered through numerous papers in the transactions of 
ea rned societies, scarcely leave a doubt on the subject, 
i. Though these beings are of so low a grade in the scale of 
1 e * yet they have exercised in ages past, and still continue 
0 e Xert a great influence in the history and economy of the 
art h’s surface. Though so insignificant aud apparently, 
c eQ contemptible in themselves ; yet by tlieir combined 
1>er gy and imperishable masonry they have raised 
N is 
A new creation iu the secret deep. 
Omnipotence wrought in them, with them, by them ; 
Hence what Omnipotence alone could do 
Worms did : 
s 'slands of importance and great beauty are every where 
fie, 6re d through the South Seas; coral reefs are still form- 
d* 1 a nd extending even to the waters edge, waiting for some 
t e *ij hving to convert the Ocean into dry land. The Geologist 
8 Us ear f* es * ; a 8 es they had a more extended 
to tf l * lan at lIle present time. He considers them as indices 
p r fie revolutions which the earth has undergone since the 
\ Ve ea tion. Whether these speculations be true or false, yet 
sit to . Ust confess that these worms have always held a 
a tion of vast Geological importance: — a situation, the 
8 We contemplate, the more miraculous it seems. 
£ MADIlEPHYLL/EA. 
cased with a solid calcareous cupped polypidom, 
UfttpifJ uaseu W1CU 
‘‘ated internally. 
. CARYOPHYLLIA. Lamarck. 
* c Character: Animal like the Actinia; polypidom 
e ner 
Per 
e mane ntly fixed, simple, cylindrical or conoid, striated 
‘ e rnally in a longitudinal direction, the top hollowed into 
an ieliated stellular cap. 
Tin. Trans., vol. 16. 
+ Geol. Manual, p. 151, 1832. 
