SPONGES 



opment of specialized digging or climbing scales. 

 On the body as a whole the scales were absent or 

 so slightly developed as to be quite invisible under 

 a lens of low pow er. Yet, abruptly along the lower 

 posterior line of the sides, there appeared two series 

 of about ten large scales, the edges of which were 

 developed into long, strong, brown spines. There 

 were ten on each side, well separated, and four on 

 the midline behind the anal fin, and no more per- 

 fect climbing battery could be imagined. It was 

 difficult to see how this sponge goby could ever go 

 backward, for every wriggle must mean an advance. 

 So like a worm or eel was Its form, however. It 

 could probably turn in its own width. Every 

 time I examined this strange fossorial apparatus, 

 I was reminded vividly of some similar device I 

 had seen elsewhere. At last It flashed into my 

 mind, — the marvellous digging hands of the white 

 mole crickets of Kartabo. In color, shape and 

 function the two were very close, — in structure 

 and origin as far apart as the poles. While this 

 goby was quite distinct, a new and as yet unnamed 

 species, it is closely related to one which has 

 been found in a sponge off the coast of North 

 Carolina of the genus Garmannia. 



Wlien I pressed on any portion of the sponge, 

 and then relaxed, a weird little chorus arose. At 

 first I thought it might be the water and air fight- 

 ing for possession of the cells, but the metallic 

 quality of the clicks soon told me that a host of 

 little snapping shrimps were protesting at the dls- 



127 



