The only Anthozoa of any commercial importance are the Precious Corals belonging to the Alcyonarian family Coralliidae. The hard pink axis of these corals has been used extensively from remote times in the manufacture of jewellery and ornaments. Until quite recently the only considerable and systematic fishery for the Precious Corals was carried on in the Mediterranean Sea, and this practically supplied the markets of the world. In more recent times, however, an important industry in corals has been developed in Japan. In 1901 the value of the coral obtained on the coasts of Japan was over £50,000, the greater part of which was exported to Italy, a smaller part to China, and a fraction only retained for home consumption. The history of the coral fishery in Japan is of considerable interest. Coral was occasionally taken off the coast of Tsukinada in early times. But in the time of the Daimyos the collection and sale of coral was prohibited, for fear, it is said, that the Daimyo of Tosa might be compelled to present such precious treasure to the Shogun. After the Meiji reform, however (1868), the industry revived, new grounds were discovered, improved methods employed, and a large export trade developed. There is evidence, however, in the art of Japan, of another {329}coral fishery in ancient times, of which the history is lost. Coral was imported into Japan at least two hundred years ago, and used largely in the manufacture of those exquisite pieces of handicraft for which that country is so justly famous. On many of the carved "Netsukes" and other ornaments, however, the coral branches are represented as the booty of dark-skinned, curly-headed fishermen, "kurombo," and never of Japanese fishermen. The coral used in this art-work can hardly be distinguished from Mediterranean coral, and there are some grounds for believing that Japan imported coral from the far West in very early times. But this does not account for the "kurombo." The only coast-dwelling people of the type that is so clearly carved on these ornaments within the area of the Pacific Ocean at the present time are the Melanesians and Papuans, and the suggestion occurs that a coral fishery existed at one time in the Southern Pacific, which has since been lost.[363] The class ANTHOZOA is divided into two sub-classes:—I. ALCYONARIA; II. ZOANTHARIA. In the Alcyonaria the fully developed zooids have always eight tentacles and eight mesenteries. In the Zoantharia the number of tentacles and the number of mesenteries in the fully developed zooids may be six, twelve, twenty-four, or an indefinite number, but individuals with eight mesenteries and only eight tentacles are not known to occur. SUB-CLASS I. ALCYONARIA.