CLASS 11I.--0RDER I. 



GENERA AND SPECIES. 



EPHYDATIA. 



PoLYPiDOMS of fresh water ; spongy in their nature, 

 greenish, in long masses, which are lobed or bundled 

 together. 



Recent observations have decided on the removal 

 of this genus from the vegetable tribes, among which 

 former philosophers had placed it, and have now 

 stationed it among the Polypidoms of the Spongia, 

 chiefly distinguishing it from that genus by its fresh- 

 water residence. It resembles the marine Spongia 

 by the gelatinous mucus which surrounds the mass 

 and fibres, and which disappears on desiccation ; by 

 the very fetid smell it yields when burning or 

 decomposing, and also by the quantity of lime ex- 



