The Zoophytes. 
By the Editor. 
irjjj^jHE group of the Zoophytes, or the Animal- 
S 3^ plants of the old naturalists, is, as will be 
|l2ai$ seen further on, but barely represented in the 
Fauna of British Guiana, where the conditions of life 
are unsuited to their development ; yet the type of life is 
by no means unfamiliar, since in nearly every decent 
home is to be found the valued product of a Zoophyte's 
life, a product brought, it is true, from some more 
favoured district. 
The familiar sponge, so widely used, and so highly 
appreciated, both in health and in disease, as well 
as in the arts and manufactures, is but the intri- 
cate framework or skeleton of a Zoophyte, which thus 
passes an existence, that, however humble it may be, 
is yet fraught with a great deal of practical interest. 
The precious or red coral of commerce, so generally made 
use of for necklaces and other ornamental objects 
also claims a share of practical interest for the 
group of the Zoophytes ; and these again, from a 
very large number of island residents in the tropical 
seas, deserve a very considerable amount of attention, 
since the very land on which their homes are built, and 
from which a great amount of their food is derived, has 
been accumulated on foundations in great part built up, 
and almost wholly made visible above the surface 
of the sea, by the work of various forms of these humble 
organisms. 
PP 
