the finest snails, are brought from Suabia. Dr. Browne, who travelled to Vienna somewhat more than a century ago, remarks, that since the markets were so well supplied with other provisions, "he was surprised to meet with some odd dishes at their tables, such as guineapigs, and divers sorts of snails and tortoises."

Dr. Townson was shown at Erlau, a snailery, which, the proprietor informed him, was constructed on an improved plan. In our island, he says, this might have had the denomination of a Patent Snailery, or Philosophical Snail-sty. It consisted only of a large hole, two or three feet deep, dug in the ground, having a wooden house as a cover. The animals were fed on the refuse of the garden, which was thrown to them.

There seems some doubt as to the original introduction of these snails into England. Mr. Pennant says, that we are indebted for them to Sir Kenelm Digby; and Da Costa, that, in the last century, a Charles Howard, Esq. of the Arundel family, brought some of them from Italy, in the hope of rendering them an article of food in England; and, for this purpose, dispersed them about the woods and downs of Albury, an ancient seat of that family, near Boxhill in Surrey. They are now to be found in considerable numbers, not only there, but also in several parts of the confines of Sussex.

Zoophites*.

OF THE MADRE PORES IN GENERAL†.

The great variety of Madrepores, their conspicuous appearance in the water, and their astonishing quantity on some coasts, have caused them to be remarked by navigators and travellers, from the earliest periods. They are all composed of calcareous matter, united with a portion of animal substance. By calcination they yield an excellent lime.

In certain species, their substance is extremely hard and solid; and in others, cellular and friable. Their form also varies much. Some are spherical, others semi-globose, and others flat: many are branched; and the branches of some are smooth, and of others hairy, furrowed, or striated. With respect to colour, they are red, yellow, brown, &c. but their most prevalent colour is yellowish white.

It is principally in hot climates, betwixt the Tropics,.

* The creatures that are ranked under the Linnean order Zoophyta, seem to hold a middle station between animals and vegetables. Most of them, deprived altogether of the powers of loco-motion, are fixed by stems that take root in crevices of rocks, among sand, or in such other situations as nature has destined for their abode : these, by degrees, send off branches, till at length some of them attain the size and extent of large shrubs. The Zoophytes are usually considered under two divisions. The stony branches of the first division, which has the general appellation of Coral, are hollow, and full of cells, which are the habitations of animals resembling Polypes, Medusæ, &c. according to their respective genera. The next division consists of such animals as have softer stems, and are, in general, not merely inhabitants of a stem or branches, but are themselves in the form of a plant. Those of this division which are best known, are the Corallines, the Sponges, and the Polypes.

The animals which inhabit the Madrepores are Medusa. The coral which contains them is fixed and simple, or branched, with cavities composed of lamella in a star-like form.

that they are in greatest abundance. Few of them have been observed in any of the European seas, except the Mediterranean. Many species are found in a fossil

state.

THE BRANCHING AND PRICKLY MADREPOREŤ.

At the extremity of each branch of the former of these species there is a star, composed of about seventeen rays or laminæ, which issue from the centre. The animals which inhabit these stars have their head in the centre, and are furnished with about eight feathery tentacula, by means of which they are enabled to seize their prey. When undisturbed, they protrude themselves from their cases, and oscillate from right to left, and from left to right, for a considerable while together, with an extremely quick motion. On any alarm, they immediately withdraw, and nothing is seen but the naked stem and branches.

In all their parts these little creatures are very tender and delicate. Their bodies are nearly transparent, and are marked with beautiful colours. This species is found in the Indian, the Mediterranean, and Atlantic seas; and, in its whole stem and branches, is sometimes twenty inches, or two feet high.

The Prickly Madrepore.—In some of the southern

DESCRIPTION. This species, which grows to the height of two feet and upwards, is branched, and has distinct stars. The branches are striated, nearly pinnate, cylindrical, and truncate; the stars are at the extremities.

SYNONYMS. Madrepora ramea. Linn.-Madrépore ramé. Tigny.-Le Porite branchu. Cuvier.

+ DESCRIPTION. The Prickly Madrepore, like the last species, is branched, and has distinct stars.. It is composite, and subimbricate, with obliquely truncate, prominent, and ascending stars. SYNONYMS. Murique. Bosc.

Madrepora muricata.

Linnæus.-Madrépore

climates, this Madrepore is in such extraordinary abundance, as occasionally to form immense beds at the bottom of the sea. In height it increases, without limit, until it is arrested by the line of low water; and in width it is boundless. Captain Cook, and other navigators, have spoken of banks or reefs of coral, or Madrepore, so extensive as to have prevented their approach to land, sometimes even for several leagues. Many voyagers have mentioned the dangers to which they have been exposed, during stormy weather, upon these reefs, not only from their liability to be wrecked, by the ships driving against such as rose nearly to the surface of the water, but also from the cables to which their anchors were fixed having been cut in pieces by chafing against them.

There can be no doubt that several kinds of Madrepore concur in the formation of these reefs; but that which, in general, constitutes by far the greatest portion, is the species here mentioned.

OF THE CORAL TRIBE.

All the different species of coral are branched, and the branches are not articulated. Their interior is stony and solid. The surface is striated, and covered by a bark-like envelope, which is fleshy and porous; and from which there issue numerous animals, resembling polypes both in appearance and structure.

THE RED CORAL*.

Few persons are unacquainted with this production,

*DESCRIPTION. The branches are stony, red, cylindrical, tapering, and expanded. The flesh is red, soft, slimy, and full of minute pores. The pores or florets on the branches are irregularly situated, somewhat prominent, and consist of eight valves, from which the polypes proceed.

SYNONYMS. Corallium nobilis. Cuvier.-Gorgonia nobi

at least in a wrought state, as forming necklaces or bracelets, for the ornament of the female figure. It is, perhaps, the most valuable of all the productions of the sea, except pearls; and constitutes a very important article of commerce.

Its general appearance is that of a shrub deprived of leaves, the stem being sometimes from three to six inches in diameter, and its whole height being usually from three to four feet. The interior, both of the stem and branches, is equal to marble in hardness. The polypes which issue from the branches are white, soft, and semi-transparent. Their tentacula are eight in number, equal in length, and fortified with several conical appendages. The mouth is situated in the centre of the tentacula; and below this is the stomach. The animals are no further connected to their cells, than by a very slender ligament.

When Coral is taken from the water, or even touched whilst under water, all the polypes suddenly contract. In this operation the appendices of the tentacula close within themselves, like the horns of snails; afterwards each tentaculum is folded towards the middle, the mouths then close, and the animals are completely concealed.

Donati observed, near the bottom of these polypes, several small, yellowish bodies, which proved to be the offspring or eggs. These, as soon as they were detached, fixed themselves firmly to those bodies on which they happened to fall. Here they extended their base, and, when the foetus was perfected, it opened, and a polype issued from the orifice. This has a small horn at its base after a while, another springs from the side; then a third; and, lastly, a tree of Coral ascends.

The fishing for Coral is, at this day, an object of great importance to the inhabitants of Marseilles, Cata

lis. Linn. Gmel.-Isis nobilis. Linn. Syst. Nat-Corail rouge.

Bosc.