MILLEPORA, in natural history, a name by
which Linnæus distinguishes that genus of lithophytes,
of a hard structure and full of holes, which are not
stellate or radiated, and whose animal is the hydra, in
which it differs from the madrepora, and comprehending
14 different species.
In the millepora, the animal which forms and inha-
bits it occupies the substance; and it is observed that
the millepora grow upon one another: their little ani-
mals produce their spawn; which attaching itself ei-
ther to the extremity of the body already formed, or
underneath it, gives a different form to this produc-
tion. Hence the various shapes of the millepora,
which is composed of an infinite number of the cells of
those little insects, which all together exhibit different
figures, though every particular cellula has its essen-
tial form, and the same dimensions, according to its
own species.