File:Ocean wonders- a companion for the seaside (1879) (14786183383).jpg

Identifier: oceanwonderscomp00damo (find matches)
Title: Ocean wonders: a companion for the seaside
Year: 1879 (1870s)
Authors: Damon, William Emerson, 1838-
Subjects: Marine animals Aquariums
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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and buds. Each mature polyp, when fixed in its cell, may be con-sidered as resting upon the tombs of its ancestors; and,when it dies, its descendants will repeat the process overits remains, and its own body, within which its share of 22 THE OCEAN. coral lias been secreted, will be the base for a new livingdescendant. The cells of the coral colony are not retreats into whichthe polyps come and go, like a bird bnilding its nest, butpart and parcel of the creature; just as much so as are thebones belonging to a human body—with this difference, thatin the case of the polyp the stony part (representing theosseous structure in man) is all at the lower portion, whilethe upper part is soft and flexible ; but in a healthy conditionthey are inseparably combined. It is well known that the power of secretion is inherentin all living tissue, while its matter and form are varied inevery possible degree, from the animalcule to the superiormammal. This power or faculty is possessed in full perfec-
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D anas Astgangia (Astrangia Dance, Agassiz): c, a growing cluster; a, a single polyp en-larged ; b, the dead coral. tion by what we call the lower forms of life, and it is amongthese we find the stone-makers; for the simplicity of theirstructure is such that they may be nearly all stone while yetthe small portion of vital substance carries on the processesof nutrition and growth. It is not generally known, outside of the circle of natural-ists and the scientists connected with the Coast Survey ser-vice, that coral grows on our own North Atlantic shores, thepopular belief being that all corals are to be sought for inwarm climates. There is one variety at least, Astrangia LIVING CORALS. 23 Dance, which has been found on the shores of Massachusettsand Connecticut. But what we call true coral has not hith-erto been kept in a living condition in any other private aqua-rium than my own. So far as I know, my acquisition isunique, being the only living specimen of the true coral-pro-ducing po

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