CORAL. 
lin, 25 species ; though Latliam enumerates 
but 16. The following is the principal. 
C. garrulus, or the common roller. These 
birds aie about the size of a jay, and 
abound in several parts of Europe. They 
are found in the latitudes between Den- 
mark and Africa ; and in Sicily and Malta, 
as well as in Germany, are sold in the shops 
and markets for food. Being birds of pas- 
sage they are supposed to spend the winter 
in Africa, as they are stated to be seen at 
Senegal not unfrequently in flocks. They 
build in trees, though sometimes in holes in 
the ground, and feed on insects, worms, 
frogs, nuts, and corn. Their flesh has 
very much the taste of a turtle. Its 
name is derived fioin a noise made by it si- 
milai' to chattering. 
CORAL. By this designation we gene- 
rally understand that substance of which a 
variety of ornaments are made, considering 
it as a concrete substance, and supposing it 
to be a marine plant. This was the opi- 
nion entertained for centuries, from the 
time even of Pliny to the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, when various circum- 
stances gave rise to doubts as to the for- 
mation of coral. Monsieur de Peyssounel 
of Marseilles observed, that the ramifica- 
tions were inhabited by a numerous tribe of 
insects ; and, that what appeared to be the 
flowers of the coral, and which receded 
into small apertures, on its being withdrawn 
from the salt water, were those insects, 
which, on re-immersion, again protruded 
themselves. Added to this, the softness of 
the terminations of all the points, and their 
being filled with a milky fluid, gives just 
reason to conclude that nature has not been 
deficient in providing these insects with 
both the means of forming their abodes, and 
with the means of subsistence. What that 
subsistence may be, or to what purpose or 
how the milky fluid is formed, naturalists 
have not yet discovered. It should seem, 
that the main channels in the principal 
branches are gradually formed, and that the 
lateral ramifications are produced by the 
expulsion of supernumeraries . in the fami- 
ly, which attach themselves to tire exterior, 
and form new galleries. This is the more 
probable, because pieces of coral, broken 
off from the main branches, in a few days 
are found to be again cemented to such 
parts as they may happen to light upon. 
By this we may also infer, that a state of 
rest is necessary to the existence of the 
coral insect, and that it has very powerful 
means of attaching itself to rocks, &c. 
Coral is generally found covered with a 
rugged incrustation, and on being left to 
dry in the sun, soon appears discoloured, 
and emits a very foetid smell, arising from 
the corruption of the polypi, or insects, that 
have died for want of then natural element, 
and of food. The incrustation being deco- 
riated, the coral presents itself ; mostly of a 
beautiful blood red colour ; some is white, 
and a few pieces are black. The latter is 
much valued, but the red only is used in me- 
dicine as an astringent. Vegetable distilled 
oils dissolve coral ; the red kind yields, by 
distillation in a retort, a volatile vitreous 
spirit that effervesces with acids, turns 
syrup of violets green, and causes the so- 
lution of corrosive sublimate to assume a 
milky appearance. Calcined in a gentle 
heat it becomes white, and it imparts to all 
tlie menstrua a red colour, which itself gra- 
dually loses. The white coral is little 
valued, and is generally made into lime of 
the finest quality, where it grows in abun- 
dance between high and low water mark. 
Fisheries for red and black coral are esta-: 
blished in many parts of the world, princi- 
pally in the Levant, in the Red Sea, Peru- 
vian Gulf, Chinese Seas, and among many 
of the numerous clusters of islands in the 
Eastern and Pacific Oceans. The largest, 
brightest, and heaviest, is accounted the 
best. The women of Asia wear neck- 
laces and bracelets, made of one or more 
rows of red coral ; there called moongab. 
Although obtained in their own quarter of 
the world, the beads are very dear ; those 
of about the size of a large marrow-fat 
pea being usually sold for four or five ru- 
pees per tolah, of half an ounce ; which is 
equal to sixteen or twenty pounds sterling 
for a pound avoirdupois. The natives of 
Hindostan have a mode of imitating coral, 
by means of the butts of large conch-shells, 
which they colour very artfully. Coral is 
sometimes found in a fossil state, but in- 
variably of a white or yellowish colour : 
these, from some remaining red spots in 
their interior, appear to have been for- 
merly entirely of that colour, but to have 
lost it by absorption, or by the action of 
acids : and the eolour of coral is by no 
means fixed : if a pound of red coral (the isis 
nobilis of Linnaeus) be boiled in a strong 
syrup, in which a pound of wax is mixed, 
both being previously dissolved in spirits of 
wine, the whole colouring matter of the 
coral may be extracted. Artificial coral is 
made of levigated cinnabar or of minium ; 
but these are easily detected : they will not 
