414 OEIQINAL AETICLE8. 



indeed, utterly untenable is his theory that the Aplysias is the 

 Alcyonium digitatum or some allied species, as I shall show by-and-by. 



" With respect to the sponges properly so called," the Reviewer 

 remarks, " we think Aristotle's opinion is that they are truly plants, 

 TravTiKCjQ 'ioiKe toIq (pvToic."* Now, first of all, I submit that eoike 

 denotes " resemblance," and not " identity ;" and in the second place, 

 that it is quite evident, from a comparison of the diiferent passages 

 where Aristotle speaks of the sponge, that he could not say to which 

 kingdom it belonged, because he thought there were living things 

 which did not belong exclusively to either the animal or the vegetable 

 kingdom, but which partook as it were of the nature of both, — >; yap 

 (pvaig [leTafiatPEi eTvv£\u)e airo twv ai^v^wi' dg to. i^Ja did riji' ^bjyrwy 

 fxtv ovK ovT(i)v Zk C<^(i)v, ovTixiQ (1)071 "hoKtiv TTa/xxttv fJiKpov Sia<pipeLV 

 daripov darepov ru avveyyvg aWy'iXoig. " Nature passes in unbroken 

 series from inanimate to animate objects, through living things indeed 

 which, however, are not animals, in such a manner that the one 

 appears to differ ia no respect from the other by reason of their 

 continuity."! Again, in the Sisf. Anim. viii. i. § 3. " The transition 

 from plants to animals proceeds in an unbroken line, as was stated 

 before, so that one might doubt whether some marine things are 

 animals or plants. "J 



As to the Aplysias which in the " Eemarks" is so readily referred 

 to the Alcyonium digitatum, there cannot be a doubt that it is some 

 kind of veritable sponge. Aristotle (ii. 14, § 2 — 6), is speaking of 

 various kinds of sponges, and thus describes the Aplysias. " There 

 is another kind which people call Aplysias, because it cannot be 

 washed ; it has large pores, but in other respects the substance is 

 compact ; when cut in two it is more compact and sticky than the 

 sponge ; the whole resembling lung ; this kind is confessed on all 

 sides to have sensation and to be long lived. They are readily dis- 

 cerned in the sea near the sponges, from these being white as the 

 mud settles upon them, while the Aplysiai are always black." It 

 seems clear that the Aplysias is a sponge from the following consi- 

 derations. (1.) Becau.se the comparison is made between it and 

 sponges, and it is described as having large external pores with a 



* Aristotle (Z>e Part. iv. 11. cd. Bek) uses a still stronger expression than the 

 above ; ovtol yap TrdfiTrav txovcn ^vtou ^vvafiiv. But even this cannot be inter- 

 preted, when taken in connection with his other remarks, to mean, that sponges are 

 plants. 



t De Partibus, iv. 5. p. 681. ed. Bek. 



X " The sponge-fisheries were probably conducted among the ancient Greeks as 

 they are now. Hence, information being obtainable with facility, we find a full 

 account of the sponge in the writings of Aristotle. He appears to have been deeply 

 interested in his history, on account of the link it seemed to present between the 

 aiiimal and vegetable natures. Therefore the question whether sponrjes possessed 

 sensatio?i is discussed by hiin more than once, and left undecided." — Lycia, ii. 

 p. 126. 



