ZOOPHYTES. 
6‘03 
of minute polypes, which form their habitations as 
bees do their honey-comb ; with this difference, 
that the honey-comb always assumes one shape, 
whereas corallines are of various figures. 
As it is always pleasing to observe the progress of 
knowledge, and to trace the origin of any discovery 
that may tend to rectify our errors, we shall here 
notice the circumstances that induced Mr. Ellis to 
pay particular attention to these marine productions. 
In the autumn of the year 1751, he received a cu- 
rious collection of sea plants and corallines from the 
island of Anglesea in North Wales ; and, in order to 
preserve some of the most beautiful kinds, he ex- 
panded them on paper in fresh water, and took some 
pains to lay them out with exactness. After they 
were completely dried, he disposed them so as to 
form a kind of landscape of different colours, and 
contrived to represent a variety of hills, dales, and 
rocks, that added greatly to the beauty of his design. 
While he was thus amusing himself, the celebrated 
Dr. Hales paid him a visit, and was so much 
pleased with these natural landscapes, that he desired 
Mr. Ellis to make some of the same kind for her 
Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales, 
that the young princesses might learn to dispose the 
plants in the same picturesque manner. For this 
purpose he was further requested to collect all the 
varieties of our coasts, in which employ he was much 
assisted by his friend Mr. George Shelvocke. It is 
necessary to mention these particulars, as they led 
immediately to his future discoveries; for it is more 
