340 ANNUAL RECOKD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



GATHERING OF EUPLECTELLA. 



Among the most beautiful objects in the way of natural 

 curiosities is the now well-known Euplectella^ or Venus's 

 flower-basket, a cylindrical net-work resembling the finest 

 spun glass woven together in open meshes of wonderful reg- 

 ularity. The Challenger^ during her exploration, visited the 

 single locality whence this object is obtained, off the island of 

 Mactan, adjacent to Zebu Island, not very far from Manilla. 

 The folio winor account of the method of collectinsj it is ofiven : 

 "We had no sooner landed than we saw the sponges about 

 every where, and we had no difficulty in getting a couple of 

 fisherwomen on the following day to consent to guide us to 

 the spot where they were found. The Indians came to us 

 early in the morning, and we started with them in the steam- 

 launch to the village, about six miles off*, where they lived. 

 There we took in two very curious and ingeniously contrived 

 instruments, with Avhich they bring the sponges up. Two 

 long strips of bamboo meet at an angle of forty-five degrees, 

 and are fixed in that position by an elaborate system of stays 

 of bamboo, which are attached to a piece of wood which runs 

 back from the angle between the two arms or wings of the 

 machine. The piece of wood is weighted with stones, and a 

 line is attached to it, so that the machine is pulled along on 

 the bottom with the angle in advance and the two wings 

 sloping backward, one on either side. The outer edge of 

 each of the bamboo rods is armed with between thirty and 

 forty large fish-hooks, with their barbs set forward toward 

 the angle. The regaderas^ as the Spaniards call them, are 

 found at a depth of about one hundred fathoms. The Indian 

 lets down the bamboo arrangement with a strong fine line 

 of Manilla hemp, and pulls it slowly over the ground. Every 

 now and then he feels a slight tug, and at the end of an hour 

 or so he pulls it in, with usually from five to ten regaderas 

 entangled in the hooks. Euplectella has a very diff*erent ap- 

 pearance, under these circumstances, from the cones of glassy 

 net-work in the British Museum. Its silver beard is clogged 

 with the dark gray mud in which it lives, buried to about 

 one third of its height, and the net-work of the remainder of 

 the tube is covered with a pall of yellowish fleshy matter, 

 which gives it a heavier look and greatly diminishes its beau- 



