COR ALL IN A

A name applied by Linneeus to a genus or group of marine organized bodies of arborescent habit, with jointed stems, supported on a kind of root, divided into branches, which are likewise jointed. Neither pores nor polypes are distinguishable on the surface of these beings; their chief purpose in the economy of nature is to prepare during life, and precipitate by their decay, fine particles of carbonate of lime or chalk: they thus lend their aid to the Lithophytous corals in covering submerged land with the elements of a fertile soil, which the expansive subterraneim forces may afterwards convert into dry land. [s. 293]