HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



II 



•and of the busy Yankee, are correlated to their habits 

 of life, and are so distinct that the former cannot 

 comprehend how the latter finds a pleasure in rushing 

 from place to place "doing" the globe. Why, your 

 globe-trotter is the outcome of a manner of life which 

 has rendered abundance of incident and excitement 

 as necessary to him as opium is to the opium-eater. 



It is not change'from activity to idleness which is 

 required, but change of interest, by which the mental 

 energies are shunted to a fresh track, while the old one 

 which does service for eleven months of the year is 

 ■being repaired. 



But this is a long drawn plea for shore-hunting, 

 wherein paterfamilias (ay ! both the pater and the 

 familias) may find interest without excitement, and, 

 dabbling among rock-pools, may become as one of 

 ■his own boys, sharing their pleasure, but seasoning it 

 with his own powers of reflection. 



These short articles now commenced are not in- 

 tended to afford an exhaustive guide to even the com- 

 mon objects of the sea-shore, but rather to give short 

 descriptions of the more easily recognised members 

 of a definite group, with the best methods of 

 preserving them and treating them for examination. 



The young collector, without exception, is at first 

 confronted by two difficulties : — he is bewildered with 

 ithe surprising and unlooked-for variety of organisms 

 which he discovers lurking under every stone and in 

 every rock -pool, and is at a loss to know where he 

 may turn for aid in identifying these countless 

 animals. 



The first is a 'transient matter, but the second is 

 incurable, unless he have a friend at hand who will 

 refer him to the necessary books, and give him his 

 first lessons in identification. It is my pleasant 

 ambition to supply the place of that friend. 



In the long run it can prove exhilarating to no 

 •creature to sit passive like a bucket and have facts 

 pumped in, says Carlyle, and likewise, in the long run, 

 it cannot but prove wearisome and as labour which 

 has no end to go on collecting, identifying, and 

 amassing a knowledge of external form without 

 vitalising that knowledge with some information 



■ concerning the habits, structure, and above all life- 

 histories of the animals so collected. At least it cannot 

 but prove stale and unprofitable to the ordinarily con- 

 structed mind, though the odd individual out of ten 

 thousand who can delight in collecting postage stamps, 



■ discovering how many times the word "moreover" 

 occurs in the Bible, or solving prize puzzles, may think 



. otherwise. 



However, even to such would I extend a word of 

 comfort, and that in the guise of a parable of facts. 

 Certain ants of California in the process of forming 



. their underground homes, cast out large quantities of 

 earth. Working as they do in the loose deposit of sur- 

 face denudation, they unavoidably and unknowingly 



. turn out amongst their rubbish gems of gold and 



precious stones. The Indians have noticed this, and 



take advantage of the labours of the ant to pick out 

 the stones they turn up. 



But in truth all scientific workers are to a greater 

 or less extent working in the dark, labouring in the 

 dimness of chaos, endeavouring to replace it by order 

 with the honest purpose of bringing perchance one 

 jewel to the light in order that a mightier hand may 

 place it amongst its kindred to complete the glory of 

 our human crown of knowledge. 



Let us remember how Darwin's glorious generalisa- 

 tions were made possible by, and built up from, the 

 labours of countless workers, or turn to any mono- 

 graph and observe how much of the material has been 

 supplied by enthusiastic and unknown collectors, and 

 go forth to the rock pools with a strong hope that we 

 too may furnish something towards the building. 



General Appearance and Anatomy of Sponges, 



Starting about an hour and a half before low-water, 

 so as to be on the ground a full hour before the tide 

 commences to rise again, and choosing some sheltered 

 nook among the rocks if the coast be a rocky one, or 

 about the piles of a pier if it be an open one, you 

 will be sure to find attached to the under surface of 

 inclined stones, in clefts and crannies of the rocks, 

 about the roots of sea-weed, in short, in any sheltered 

 spot where there is good surface for attachment and 

 where the sun does not strike too strongly, tenacious 

 masses of a sponge-yellow, green, brown, or orange 

 colour, and with large orifices on the surface. These 

 are the easily recognised objects for iwhich you are 

 searching. Probably the first form which you will 

 recognise will be one closely adherent to the rocks, 

 very abundant on sloping surfaces not exposed directly 

 to the waves or hot sun, and ofasi^onge-yellow colour 

 shading into green on exposed parts. This is the 

 common Halichondria panicea, the " bread-crumb " 

 sponge of Ellis. Another equally common form is 

 Hymeniacidon sangiiiiua, it is readily recognised by 

 its salmon colour, and is also attached to rocks. It 

 does not, however, form a mere crust with a smooth 

 surface thrown into gentle hillocks, as does the 

 Halichondria, but rises up into fistulous digitate pro- 

 jections, each of which bears a large orifice at its 

 summit. These two forms are very hardy, occurring 

 much farther above low-water than any other 

 sponge. Neither, however, presents us with a simple 

 type of sponge-structure, but as they are the most 

 easily obtained and readily recognised forms, they 

 will best serve to furnish us with a first object lesson 

 on sponge anatomy. To avoid confusion, the following 

 description will apply specially to HalicJiondriapanicea^ 

 though the points described may be equally well 

 worked over in Hymeniacidon sanguiiica. 



Pieces of the sponge should be removed as com- 

 pletely as possible and taken home in a considerable 

 quantity of fresh sea-water. A pocket lens, a couple 

 of needles mounted in holders, a pipette, and a 



