i6z THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



manna of the oyster. The elegant reel sponge, with its clustered lobes, 

 almost like chalina, is sometimes found perched on the upper valve, 

 like a great showy cockade. When, many years ago, before the 

 Southern oyster was planted North, they used to take up the rich 

 "naturals" around Bedloe's Island, this beautiful native sponge was 

 often found in great tufts as large as a peck-measure. The oystermen 

 called it " red -beard ; " and often might be seen, at the door of an 

 oyster-saloon in New York, a heap of these choice oysters, surmounted 

 by a grand specimen of this red sponge. Even yet, at Craney Island, 

 where the Elizabeth River and Hampton Roads meet, are acres of this 

 pretty sponge. This sponge often renders a singular service to some 

 fine old bivalve sinking with the weight of years into the rich organic 

 ooze. It actually buoys it up, and rocks it, so that the under valve 

 becomes white and bright with the gentle friction. In the crevices 

 made by the lapping shoots on the upper valve, like tiles on a roof, 

 are often found tiny univalves, sharing in the crumbs of the banquet 

 on which the occupant of the great house feasts. We have often with 



Fig. 3. Flustba Foliacea. A Community of Bryozoa growing on Oysters and other Objects. 



a penknife pried them out of their hiding-cracks, although much 

 smaller than a grain of rice. Often, too, if examined closely, an oyster- 

 shell 7nay be found partly coated with a delicate net-work, as if some 

 fine Valenciennes lace had been cemented thereon. These are the 

 skeletal cells of the Bryozoa, or animate moss ; for, though like moss 

 somewhat, the little builders are living creatures, and, under the mi- 



