cafe or tube, accompanying the ramifications of their 
bodies, and ferving to defend them from the numerous 
difafters to which they would othervvife be liable, if 
left naked in the tumultuous element in which they 
are deffcined to refide. 
They adhere to rocks, fhells, &c. by creeping pro- 
ceffes, which bear the appearance of fpreading roots, 
and thus contribute ftill farther to their plant-like af- 
pedl. The oval bodies which are fo frequently feen 
feated at the bafes of the lateral branches, are fuppofed 
by Mr. Ellis to be the ovaries of the animal, contain¬ 
ing the eggs, and fometimes the completely-formed 
young. The fpecies of Sertularia are extremely nume¬ 
rous, and are very common. 
The fpecies here figured we have copied from the 
works of Mr. Ellis, as it ferves to fhew in the cleareft 
and moft diftincft manner poffible, the feveral particu¬ 
lars of the fuppofed ftrudiure. The animal part like a 
medulla or pith, is everywhere feen through the tranf- 
parent horny coat; and at every denticulation of the 
branches it is protruded in the form of a polype-head 
with its tentacula. The fuppofed ovaries are fituated 
in the axillae of the branches. The Sertularice, like the 
frefh-water polypes, prey on fuch fmall animalcules as 
happen to fall in the w’ay of their tentacula. 
Fig. 1. reprefents the animal in its natural fize. 
Fig. 2. fhews it magnified by a microfcope. 
