PHILO SOPHICAL 
TRANSACTIONS. 
I. On the Nature of the Gorgonia; that it is a real 
Marine Animal , and not of a mixed Nature , between 
Animal and Vegetable. By John Ellis, Efq. F. R. S. in 
a Letter to Daniel Solander, M. D. F. R. S* 
MY DEAR FRIEND, 
R. June 29, T 'p was your particular requeft, before you 
A went to the South Seas, that I fhould conti- 
nue my refearches into the formation and growth of 
Zoophytes , more particularly of thofe formerly called Ce- 
ratophytons , now Gorgonia . ; and known in Englifh by the 
name of fea-fans, fea-feathers, and fea-whips, to which 
clafs the red coral fhould be added. This you thought 
the more neceffary, as the accounts already publifhed of 
them by the illuftrious Dr. linn^us and Dr. pallas 
feemed to make them of a mixed nature in their growth, 
between animals and vegetables : a thing not eafily to be 
reconciled to the ufual operations of nature. 
Vol. LXVI. B 
I was 
