THE LASSO-THROWERS. 
73 
red jelly. Meanwhile in the middle of the stem the 
spicules become pressed together and form a solid 
red rod (a, Fig. 28), supporting the whole animal-tree; 
and this red rod, the scaffolding of the living lasso- 
throwing coral-animal, is all that remains after it is 
dead to be polished for us to wear. 
All round the coasts of South Italy these beautiful 
coral-animals grow and feed. A warm sea and suffi- 
Fig. 28. 
A section of a piece of Red Coral. Lacaze-Dutkiers. 
a, Solid red rod in the centre, b, One of the white jelly mouths 
with its tentacles drawn in. c, Canals round the rod. d, Red spicules 
(magnified) which are buried in the flesh e. e, Soft flesh of the coral 
coloured by the red spicules and fed by the white mouths b, 
cient water over their heads is all they ask, in order 
to flourish happily and send out plenty of young ones 
to keep up the colony ; and though they have their 
enemies in the seaworms, and in the fish which nibble 
at their tender flesh, yet, by means of their spicules, 
they hold their own, while with their lassos they catch 
their prey. 
