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Show x6 . 7?Je Hijlory of P L A N T S., fuch manner as to refemble a reaper's fickle. The main fialk is rigid and ~rm, though very flender; the branches are compofed of £hort j.oints,_ fo difpofed, as to give the whole a denticulated figure, and in the alre of the denuculattons there are frequently found a kind of oval bodies, hollow, and ftriated tranfverfely; the faf1!e fort of capfules are alfo found on many of the other fpecies, but their ufe is not yet dtfcovered. !he wh_ole plant is of a pale-brown colour. It grows to oyfier-lhells, and other manne bod1es, iometimes to the other fea-plants, and is common about our own coafi s. Plukenet calls it Corallina mu(cofa pennata ramulis et capillamentis fa lea tis; and J ohnfon) Mufcus marinus pennatus. 4· Coral/ina Jimplex cirrata. Simple cirrated Coralline. This is a very fingular fpecies : it confifis of a fingie fi alk, of three, f?ur! or more inches in length, neither divided, nor fending out any br.anches, but contt~um ~ ~ ~~plc from the bafe to the fummit. It is compofed of a multitude of iliort, cy~md nc JOmts, and at the head of every joint it has five lit'tle cirri_,'lookin~ like the rudi~~nts of hairs. The fialk itfelf is not larger than a thick horfe-hair? and IS fomewhat ngid, a.n? of a brown colour. There generally grow a great mulutude togethe~, f~ th~t . they i~pport one another but otherwife their len_gth is almofl: too much for their diameter. The fialk has a ~avity' running ail the way up it, and in the whole refembl~s nothin_g fo much as the horn of a lobfier whence it has been called, by •the generality of wnters, Corallina afiaci corniculorum ~mula. It is frequent on our own coafis, .and fom.etimes found on oyfter- il1ells, as many other of the Coralli!les are. . · • . . After the defcriptjon of thefe four fJ)ecies, the. names alone .wtll h<: fuffictent to diftinguial the others. They are, 1. The fmal_l-branched Coralhne,, wtth round cap~ules at the indentings. 2. The fmall, [now-white, branched Coralhne. 3· T~e captll_aceous, multifid Coralline, called the Fine-haired fea-rnofs. 4· The tall, white, capillaceous, leaved Coralline. 5· The' round-jointed, foft, branched Coralline. 6. The purple, compreifed Coralline. 7· The branche~, cirra.ted Coral~in~. 8: The broad, denticulated Coralline. 9· The branched Corallme, Wtth the denticles m two rows, turned the fame way. ro. The thick-ftalked coarfe Coralline . . I I The eretr, verymuch branched, filvery Coralline. I 2. The procumbent, denticulated, branched ·Coralline. 13. The little, creeping, denticulated Coralline. I 4· The dwarf, erect, ramofe, denticulated Coralline. ·IS· The fimple-denticulated Coralline . . 16. The hollow-jointed Coralline. 17. The capillary, hollow-jointed Coralline ~ 18. The threaded, illortjointed, hollow Coralline. 19. The purple, narrow-leaved Coralline. 2 0. The black, multifid Coralline. 2 r. The green, multifid Coralline: ; both the(e become white with lying on the il10res, but they even then are evidently different from any other fp ecies. 22. The dodder Coralline. 23. The abrotanum, leaved Coralline. 24. T he elegant, filvery, fine-·divided Coralline. Linna=us has figured many of thefe Corallines under the name of receptacles of infeds, and fuppofe's them not of vegetable origin. The French have lately, alfo, extended this doCtrine to the corals, and many other of the fea-plants, all of which they make not to be vegetables, but cafes'made by infects. We do not find this, however, fufficiently proved at prefent, to authorife the throwing this fet of bodies out of the vegetable world. In a work where a general hifiory of plants is to, be comp rifcd in a fmall volume, we have no room for controverfy; but th is.is certain, .that many of the fpecies, called by thefe authors the cafes made by infcCl:s, may be prove.d to be vegetables, as much as daifies or lillies are fo. We allow that fome inaccurate authors may have defcribed cafes of infeCl:s under the name of plants, and that fea in feCts may inhabit feaplants, as the hexapodes of beetles, &c. d9 trees, or other infects ( the mineurs de feuilles of Reaumur, &c.) do plants: but we are not, therefore, for fuppofing all fea·plants to be cafes of infeCl:s, nor all of them even to afford nidufes for animals, becaufe fome of them do fo. S U B M A R I Iv E S •. Tbe Hi)lory of P L A N T S. SUBMARINES. Clafs the Fir)l. Genus the Tenth. ALC Y 0 N I U M. A L C Y 0 N I U M is a genus of Submarines, confifiing of a rigid, :fibrofe mat ... ter, d ifpofed in various forms, but always laid together in a lax manner, fo as to be in mofl: fpecies compreffible. Sometimes covered with a cruft of it's own matt er, more clofe ly arranged, and forming a hard coat for the refi, but more often n aked ; and in fome of the fpecies, the leafi refembling a plant of any thing of the Submarine clafs, in it's external appearance. T here is no term in botany that has been more abufed, or employed in fo many improper fenfes, as this Alcyonium. Authors have defcribed many th iugs which are not difiinCl: vegetables under it; fome of them really nidufes of infeCl:s, fome of them only congeries of the fibrous matter of other plants. W e are not for this reafon however to conclude, that there are no Alcyonia truly vegetable, of difiinCl: and determinate kinds. I. Alcyonium divaricatttm. Divaricated Alcyonium. This grows to the rocks or other folid bodies under water, by a broad and thick bafe, compo_fed of a multitude of fibres varioufly i_nterwoven and entangled. From this bafe there anfe two or three branches, each fpreadmg out into feveral ramifications; the wh ole branches are often eight or ten inches long. It is rounded at the bottom and an inch and half or more in diameter; but, as it branches out, it becomes ' flat . many of the ramificat ions are two inches broad, and not half an inch thick and th~ whole has fomething of the rude figure of an elk's-horn. It is of a brown c;lour and of a fomew hat rigid, yet compreffible matter, and is all formed, like the bafe, 'of a n_umber of th ready fila_men~s, ftrangely inte:·woven and entangled, and often coalefcmg toge t~ er; the ramificatiOns from _the mam ~ranch oflen coalefce where they meet. The confl:ttuen t matter feems fomethmg of a mtddlc nature, between that of the Efcharce, and th at of the Spunges. This fpecies is not uncommon on the coafis of America. Clufius calls it Alcyonium monfi rofum ; and C. Bauhine, Alcyonium cervi cornua refcrens. 2. Alcyonitt?JZ coralliforme. Coral-like Alcyonittm. T his is an extrea_mly eleg~nt ·~nd beautif~l plant, and is the moO: fingubr in its appearance of a.n~ thmg of this. kmd; at a d1fiance it perfeCl.ly refembles a fhrub of coral, but that lt ts of a yellowt{h colour; but, when examined, it is found to be compoled merely o_f fibrou~ and ra?'lo[e capillamcnts, w01:derfully ~rranged into that general for~, a?d IS fo ext1 eamly !tght, that th~ largefl: pteces of It have fcarce any fenfi ble wetgbt 111 _the hand. It n[es from a thick and coarfe bafe, formed of a multitude · ?f fib res., firangely entangled together and extending themfelves, in a cake of feveral mchcs ~Hlm.eter, over fiones or rocks; from this it rifes with a main trunk of an inch or two Ill _dtameter, and th is divides in to feveral ramifications, each of which afterwards fends off It~ feveral bra nches. T.hefe are all round in figure, though compofed only of fibres fl:a~Jmg at a confiderable ddlance from one another, and fo remarkably arranged and terrnmated, that they all end in the circular circumference allotted to the branches The whole plant is of a yellow colour, and the b ranches are fomewhat compreffible' though the fibres they are compofed of arc confiderably rigid. It is frequent on th' coafts of the Ea~ I ndies, where it is tJuown up by the waves. It natllra lly grows un~ der. twenty or thirty feet water. Many of our colleCtors of natural bodies have it in thetr mufceur:ns, where they call it the wire fpunge, or fpunge coral. F 3 . A Icy onium • |