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Show 408 POLYPI. is mixed with calcareous granules, am. ma1 bark which envelopes it as in the Gorgonire. In the CoRt..LLIUM, Lam. The axis is without articulations, and .lS merely striated on its surface. 1 , t belongs the It is to this subgenus t la I VII or Coral of commerce, so cele- Jsi's nobilia, L.; Esp., ' '1 fits stony axis, and for the brated for the beautiful red co ou~bol It constitutes the object f h. h it is suscept1 e. I high polish o w lC 1 t of the Mediterranean. ts fi h in severa par s h of a lucrative s ery The Polypi, as in many ot er b k is reddish and cretaceous. gaern era, have e1. g ht de,n ticulated arms. MEL IT JEA, Lam. b e of the ax1. s 1. s ·Interrupted by knots filled Where the stony su stanc with a matter resembling cork( 1 ). In Ists, Lam. 't . interrupted by strangulations of Or Is!s properly so called, 1 IS The thick and soft bark falls . robles horn. which the substance te~\he receding ones(~). more easily than thlat od' tingp uishes from Isis proper, M. Lamouroux a so lS MoPSEA, Where the bark l. S thm. ner an d more durable(3). MADREPORA, Lin. The stony portion of Madrepores is e.l t h er ramqus, or forms . I . . Is coccinea, Id., 111, A, 5. E (1) Isisocracea,Esper., ,lv,-. h HI·Esper,I,1;-Is.elongata, sper, (2) Isis hippuris, L.; Sol. nnd Ell., Zoop ., , I, vi. . Is encrinula, Lam., Ol' Is. verticillata, La· (3) Isis dichotoma, Seb., Ill, cv~ !;- ~o Sol and Ell., LXX, f. 4. mour., Pol• -:sr: .•Iex ., XVIII, f. 2, an PP·• ' CORALLIFERI. 409 rounded mosses, or leaves, but is always furnished with lamellre which unite concentrically in points where they represent sta1·e, or which terminate in lines more or less serpentine. While alive, this stony portion is covered with a living bark, soft, gelatinous, and completely covered with rosettes of tentacula which are the Polypi or rather the Actinire, for they usually have several circles of tenr tacula, and the lamellre of the stars correspond in some re.spects to the membranous laminre of the body of the Actinire. The bark and Polypi contract on the slightest touch. The diversity of their general form, and of the figures which result from the combination of their lamellre, has given rise to various subdivisions, several of which however re·enter others. It will be impossible to establish them definitively until the relation of the Polypi with those forms are known. When there is but a single star, circular or in an elongated line, with very numerous laminre, we have the FuNGIA, Lam.(l) The animal exactly represents a single Actinia, with large and numerous tentacula, and of which the mouth corresponds to the depressed part in which all the laminre terminate. Stony corals with a single star, that appear to have been perfectly free from adhesion, are found among fossils, and constitute the TuRBINOLIA, Lam.(2), CyoLOLITHus(3), and TuRBINOLOJ>sxs, Lamouroux( 4). When the Madrepore is ramous, and the stars are confined to the extremity of each branch, it becomes the CARYOPHYLLIA, Lam. The branches are striated. At each star is a mouth surrounded with numerous tentacula( 5). OcuLINA, Lam. The Oculinre have very short lateral ramusculi, giving them the (1) Mad. fun gites, L., ot· Fungia agariciformis, Lam., Sol. and Ell., pl. XXXVUI, f. 5, 6.;-M. patella, or F. patellaris, Lam., Id., lb., 1, 2, 3, 4;-M. pileus or Fung.limacina, Lam., Id., pl. XLV; Seb. Ill, cxi, 3, 5;-F. talpa, Lam.; Seb., cxi, 6, and cxii, 31. (2) Mad. turbinata, L.; Am. Ac., I, iv, 1, 2, 3, 7;-Thrb. crispa, Lamour, App. to Sol. and Ell., LXXIV, f. 14-17;-T. criatata, lb., f. 18, 21;-T. compresaa, lb., 2~, 23. 17(, 31) 8M. ad. porpita, L., Am. Ac. I, iv, 5; Cycl. elliptica, Gu~tt., Mem., III, .xxi, (4) Turbinolopsis ocracea, Lamour., App. Sol. and Ell., pl. LXXXII, f. 4-4. (5) .Madr. cyat~us, Sol. and Ell., XXVm, f. 7;-M. calicularis, Gm., Esper, I, pl. :rv1;-M. fasaculata, Sol. and Ell., XXX;-M. ,/lexuosa, Sol. and Ell., XXXU, VoL. IV.-3 B |
