78 G O R G O N I A.
thefe obfervations, that the figures of their fcales are
adapted by nature to fuit particular parts, as they are in
fnakes, lizards, and fiih.
Befides the application of thefe fcales, or vitreous cor-
pufcles, to the ufe of an outward covering, Nature feems
to have adapted fome kinds of them to the forming the
harder parts within, as -for inftance in the red Coral,
where, upon magnifying the fteftiy part that was preferred
in fpirits, I found it full of thefe vitreous red cor-
pufcles, -reprefented highly magnified at fig. A. tab. 35.
EiTay on Corallines ; but thefe were folid, and not hollow,
as I took them to be at that time. This hint I received
from Dr. Donati, who obferves, that the corpufcles,
which we find in the flefh of Red Coral, compofe the
hard part of i t ; being depofited on it by means o f a pellicle
full of minute veflels that lies upon it, which contain
a whitilh juice. See Phil. Tranf. Vol. 47. p. 99.
In the Gorgonia Briareus the hard part, or bone, is
compofed of beautiful purple glafly fpiculae, lying lengthways
almoft parallel to each other, and united into a folid
mafs; and if we examine the flefhy part, we {hall find
the fame kind of fpiculs lying irregularly and thinly dif-
perfed through the foft fubftance of it, mod probably for
the fame purpofe as in the Red Coral. The figures of
thefe corpufcles, when magnified, are not unlike caterpillars
with many feet; fee PI. 14. fig. 2. As the Gor-
gonias, whofe hard parts are like wood, horn, or {tone,
depofit or produce a fimilar fubftance (which is their
bone) when they fpread their bafes on rocks and {hells;
fo this G. Briareus depofits a layer under its flefli, con-
lifting of thefe vitreous purple fpiculae, which prove it
evidently to belong to this genus of Gorgonia, and not to
the• Alcyonium, which contains no hard or bony parts.
The
g o r g o n i a . 79
The laft thing which I {hall offer againft their growing
like vegetables, is the fituation and growth of the medulla,
which is obferved in fome particular fpecies of thefe
animals. This, had it been fimilar to the pith in the
young branches of trees, would have been a very ftrong
argument in favour of their partaking of a vegetable nature,:
but the cafe is otherwife. For inftance, let a young
branch of a Gorgonia ceratophyta be di fleeted longitudinally,
fo as to (hew the courfe of the medulla in the leading
branch, as well as the fide branches, tab. 9. fig. 5.
6. Divide, at the fame time, and in the fame manner,,
a young fprig of any common tree, a lime-tree, for inftance,
fig. 7. 8. In the lime-tree we {hall obferve a free-
communication of the pith between the leading branch
and the fide branches ; but in the Gorgonia the pith or
medulla of the leading branch has no communication in
the leaft with the fide branches. The primary branch
being furrounded with a horny tube to the extremity, and
when it is longitudinally difteflred, we plainly difcover
the fcptum, that is, the continued fide of the tube, which
prevents any communication. The branches here arife
on the fide of the leading branch, each forming or producing
a medulla proper to itfelf, without any communication
with the medulla of the primary branch. It is exactly
the fame in the genus of Antipathes. The medulla
in thefe fpecies of Gorgonias confifts of certain white
membranes, placed at diftances nearly equal to their diameter,
eroffing the little tube that contains them, like fo-
many diaphragms ; whereas the medulla of young,
branches of trees confifts of fpongy {hining globules,,
clofcl.y compacted together.
2. Gorgonia