_Virgularia mirabilis_ is undoubtedly one of the finest polypidoms found in the ocean. Two series of half-moon shaped wings, obliquely horizontal, are placed symmetrically round an upright axis. They embrace the stem somewhat in the manner termed _petiolate_ by botanists, clasping it alternately; or, shall we say, like two broad ribbons rolled round a stem in an inverse direction, in such a manner as to produce the effect of two opposing flights of stairs. These wings are waving, vandyked, and fringed on their outer edge, and of a brilliant yellow; the dentature of the fringe being the lodging of their pretty little polyps, which display occasionally their gaping mouths and expanded gills. The polyps are white and semi-transparent. When they display their rays, the margin of each wing presents an edging of silvery stars. [Illustration: Fig. 62. Loose-winged Virgularia, Virgularia mirabilis (Lamarck).] [Illustration: Fig. 63. Branch of Virgularia, enlarged.] The _Umbellularia_ have a very long stem, supported by a bone (Fig. 64) of the same length, and terminated at the summit only by a cluster of polyps. They have been found in the Greenland and other northern seas. [Illustration: Fig. 64. Umbellularia Greculandrea (Lamarck).] The _Veretillum_, which inhabit the Mediterranean (Fig. 65), have a simple cylindrical body, without branchiæ, and a rudimentary polypidom, furnished with very large polyps of a whitish colour. IV. THE ALCYONARIA PROPER. The beings which compose this group have the fleshy polypidom always adherent, without axis or solid interior stem. They are divided into four families or tribes. One of these, the _Cornularia_, are zoophytes, and live in isolation, or gathered together in small numbers on the surface of a common membraniform expansion. The _Cornularia cornucopia_ live on the coast of Naples, _C. crassa_ on the Algerian coast. Other genera make their appearance on the coast of Scotland, of Norway, in the Red Sea, and in the Indian Ocean they appear in great numbers. [Illustration: Fig. 65. Veretillum cynomorium (Lamarck).] In the _Alcyonaria_, properly so called, the polypidom is very thick, of a semi-cartilaginous consistence, granular, and rough to the touch. The genus _Alcyonium_ is numerous in species and widely dispersed. _A. digitatum_ is very common on our coasts, and on many parts of the coast scarcely a stone or shell is dredged up from deep water which does not serve as a support to some one or more species of _Alcyonium_. It is known by various popular names by our sea-side population, such as _cow's paps_, from its resemblance to the teats of the cow--_dead man's fingers_, from the occasional resemblance of its finger-like lobes to a man's fingers.