We have already described the creatures which are popularly known
as Corallines. Modern zoologists have long separated off from the
Corallines of the older writers, a group of animals known as the
Sea-Mats, which also are colonies made up of unit individuals. The
common Sea-Mat, _Flustra foliacea_, may be picked up on almost any part
of the English coast, being often torn up "by the roots" and washed in
by the tide. When fresh it has a pleasant scent, which has been compared
to that of Lemon Verbena, and a pinkish colour, due to the presence of
the little inhabitants in their cells. When dry it has no odour,
the cells are empty, and the colour a pale drab like that of a dead
Coralline. Its texture is, however, much more crisp and brittle, and
less horny, than that of a dead Coralline: it grows in flat, forked
expansions, much resembling in outline the fronds of several common
seaweeds; and each side of these is covered with a diamond pattern of
little cells. This crowded arrangement of the cells, with a tendency to
assume a geometrical pattern, is the readiest feature by which the
beginner may distinguish a Sea-Mat from a Coralline. The latter arrange
their cells in a free-growing, tree-like or fernlike form, without any
crowding of the units into a geometrical pattern. The division of the
flat leaf-like colony by two, resulting in bifurcated branches, is
another obvious feature of the Sea-Mat.
Covering--and to the botanist's eye disfiguring--the branches of many
sea-weeds, and growing upon oyster-shells, tangle-roots, and other fixed
objects, we may find many little incrustations which remind us of the
lichens of the land: the diamond pattern of little cells shows us,
however, that these things are relations of the Sea-Mats. The name of
Bryozoa, Moss-Corals, was formerly given to these growths. Many of
them bear long hair-like processes at regular intervals; these, which
are large enough to be plainly seen with the naked eye, afford a ready
means of recognising these creatures.
TABLE SHOWING THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE POLYZOA
{ ECTOPROCTA, with excretory aperture outside
{ the ring of tentacles, _e.g._, _Flustra_.
=POLYZOA.= {
{ ENDOPROCTA with excretory aperture inside
{ the ring of tentacles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account