COLLECTING MARINE INVERTEBRATES. 81 



hollow cylinders ; a large cylindrical sponge of a rich brown 

 color, and beautiful wiry texture, called Verongiajistularis ; and 

 sponges that were like trees, like interlocked deer antlers, and 

 what not. 



Professor H. A. Ward's last catalogue of invertebrates enu- 

 merated forty-three species of sponges that were on hand when 

 the list went to press. Of these, the largest specimen was a 

 huge Neptune's cup (Paterion neptuni), four feet in height, and 

 shaped like a gigantic goblet, which came from the neighbor- 

 hood of Singapore. 



Therefore, I say, when on the sea-shore, be on the lookout for 

 sponges. If you can find them on the beach ready cleaned and 

 dried for you, so much the better ; but if you get them alive, the 

 soft animal matter must be macerated and washed away, just 

 as you would macerate the flesh from a large skeleton. Soak 

 them in fresh water for a short time to macerate the soft mat- 

 ter, then wash it out in salt water, and keep this up until the 

 sponge is at last clean. 



CORALS. The bleached white coral cluster of the cabinet is, 

 like the sponge, only the skeleton of its former self. "When it 

 was forcibly torn from its foothold at the bottom of the sea it 

 was covered with living coral polyps, which gave it the color 

 which is peculiarly its own. Some species, notably Madrepores, 

 when first taken from the water look like colored glass. The 

 main branches are of a yellowish-brown tint, shading toward 

 the tips to the most delicate and beautiful bluish purple. There 

 is no way to preserve these colors, because they are due entirely 

 to the presence of the living polyps. When those delicate or- 

 ganisms die, as die they must, the color vanishes, and if not 

 cleaned and bleached, the coral assumes a dead, smoky brown 

 appearance, suggestive of dust and dirt. 



Therefore it is best to clean and bleach your corals at once. 

 This requires a little time, but the process is " so simple a child 

 can use it." Small specimens can be cleaned quickly by wash- 

 ing them in dilute muriatic acid, and afterward in clear water 

 to keep the acid from going too far, and then placing them out 

 in the sun to bleach. Large specimens cannot always be treat- 

 ed in this way, and the best plan for wholesale operations is to 

 place the coral on the ground, in a sunny situation, and dash 

 6 



