x o6 I S I S .
connexis, came fubalbida
porofa crajfa, ■ o f cults in
quincunces difpofttis, poly-
pos oEiotentaculatos obte-
? entibus. O
T a b . 3.
channelled joints, connected
together by black contracted
horny intermediate ones. The
flefh is whitilh, plump, and
full of minute velfels; the fur-
face of it is full of the little
mouths of the cells, which
are difpofed in a quincunx order,
covering the polypes with
eight claws.
F i g . 1— 5.-
Ifs Hippuris. Linn. Syft. Nat. Ed. 12. pag. 1287.
There are many varieties of this much admired Ills.
Some are dwarfifh, not above fix inches high; others,
from a foot to two feet and more. In fome, the ftony
joints are longer, and the black horny joints very fhort r
in others, the black horny ones are longer, but always
more contracted, as may be feen in the 84th table of
the 6th vol. of Rumphius’s Herb. Amboinenfe, where
it is excellently defcribed.
In tab. 3. there are feveral feCtions of this Coral magnified,
to {hew the manner in which the Polypes from
their cells draw in their nourifhment, for the further ex-
tenfion and increafe both of the bony as well as the flefhy
part of the animal.
Fig. 2. is a longitudinal feClion of the trunk of this
Coral without joints appearing on the outfide ; but in the
middle of its ihfide is . a fmall ramification, where both
its horny and flony parts are covered over with layers o f
the ftony part alone, which fhews its growth to be different
from that of fhrubs. We likewife find that this.
Coral fpreads its bafe on rocks, by various turnings and
3. . windings,
windings, both of its bony and ftelhy part ; and likewife,
as it rifes, we find it inclofing (hells and other extraneous
fubftances, that ftick to it, like the Gorgonias.
This beautiful Coral is often brought by our Eaft-India
{hips from Prince’s Iftand, in the Straits of Sunda, on
the fouthern coaft of Sumatra. Specimens with the flefti
on them are rarely to be met with, as the failors generally
fcrape off the flefti to (hew the beauty of the black and
white joints.
Dwarf Scarlet Ifes. ' J
This little Ifis has its
branches irregularly fpreadt
Its bone is jointed, {lender,
very red, and a little ftriated;
the joints are united by fhort,
fpongy, yellowifti genicula-
tions. The flefti on the in-
fide is of a pale rofe color ; on
the outfide it is covered with
little rifing wart-like fcarlet
cells, each having a little
mouth.
T a b . 12. F i g . 5.
This Dwarf Ifis differs from the Dichotomous Ifis o f
the Cape, in being much fmaller, and irregular in its
branches. Nothing can exceed the brightnefs of its fcarlet
color. It is about two or three inches high, and was
collected on the coaft of Mauritius, in the year 1767,
and prefented to Dr. J. Fothergill, with many other rare
fea’ productions, by the furgeon of an Eaft-India fhip that
P 2 put
3. Ifis coccinea.
Ifis pumila varie ra-
mofa, ramulis divarica-
tis, ojfe articulato lineari
fubfriato rnberrimo, in-
ternodiis brevibus fpongio-
f s fu lvis, came intus pal-
lide rofea, extus cellulis
elevatis verruciformibus
coccineis, ofculis minimis. '