ZOOPHYTES. 
609 
enough for a person to distinguish any substance at 
a considerable depth. These aquatic groves are 
composed of a great variety of species, which, asto- 
nishing as it may appear, are all constructed by the 
tender little creatures that inhabit them. If we 
give ourselves time to consider the many wonder- 
ful processes in nature which are daily performed 
before our eyes, but which, from their frequency, 
are wholly disregarded, we shall be the less sur- 
prised to find these minute and glutinous animals 
constructing their habitations of materials almost 
as hard as marble. It is not merely the immense 
labour of these little polypes that we have to ad- 
mire ; for they possess the art of giving a very 
beautiful finish to their calcareous structures, and 
proceed with a regularity in their operations that 
it will be difficult for us to conceive. Some ex- 
actly resemble large mushrooms with their gills up- 
wards ; others take the form of different trees, and 
some again have a surface like the finest lace. A mong 
them the Tubipora musica , or red pipe coralline, is 
one of the most common, and is found in great 
abundance in several parts of the world. We sus- 
pect this to be the principal species which forms 
the group of the thousand islands in the Strait 
of Sunda, which are mentioned by Mr. Barrow 
as being wholly formed of coralline. This gentle- 
man observes, that from the soft and leather-like 
consistence of the tubulated surfaces of the coral 
fabrics, it would appear that as the old animals die, 
and their calcareous cells become rigid, succeeding 
2 h 
VOL. II. 
