with some Remarks on the Nature of the Spongiæ Marine. 375 
the cells or pores of the Sponge. "This opinion is, I think, worthy of addi- 
tional investigation, because to the exterior of the shells of the seedlike bodies 
certain fibres or tubules are often appended. - 
In pursuing the same inquiry, the following is another supposition which 
has occurred to me; that the seedlike bodies are the sporidia, and the germ- 
like bodies the sporules of the River Sponge, because I found that on opening 
the seedlike bodies the soft white opake substance with which they are filled, 
when spread out and submitted to a great power of the microscope, consists 
of numerous granules interspersed among a somewhat transparent jelly“. 
These granules are round or egg-shaped, exceedingly minute, and quite dia- 
phanous, except as to a spot, which is evidently a particle of the same jelly. 
And as the seedlike bodies themselves are fixed within the cells of the Sponge, 
they ought strictly to be considered as the seed-vessels or sporidia, and the 
granules contained within them as the seeds or sporules. Also, since the 
sporidia when apparently full grown have an orifice at their upper extremity 
whereby the gelatinous substance and granules escape, the latter, if identical 
with the germlike bodies, pursuing their way through the water that fills the 
passages or canals formed by the fibrous network of the Sponge, emerge and 
swim or glide about by means of their locomotive power, until they have at- 
tained sufficient maturity, and have procured for themselves a safe lodge- 
ment; they then begin to germinate and vegetate by degrees. However, I 
need scarcely observe to you, that further experiments are necessary to deter- 
mine which of these two suppositions is the true one, that is to say, whether 
the locomotive germlike bodies ultimately become identical with the fixed 
seedlike bodies, or whether the former are the real sporules, and the latter 
the sporidia; yet I may add, that I am most strongly inclined to the latter. 
Again, having before remarked that the only traces from whence I could 
at all infer the animal nature of the River Sponge were its locomotive spo- 
decaying or breaking of parts of the Sponge itself; or by many other causes. They then, attaching 
themselves to whatever suitable substance they may happen to fall upon, quickly germinate. 
* Professor Link has observed the same sort of substance and granules (séminules) in the similar 
seedlike bodies (sporanges) of the Spongilla lacustris. He has described them thus: “ Lorsqu’on 
écrase ces conceptacles de graines et qu'on les regarde avec un grossissement très fort, on voit les 
séminules plongées dans une masse qui est molle tant qu'elle est fraiche.” (Annales des Sciences Natu- 
relles, Seconde Série, tom. ii. p. 328.) 
VOL. XVIII. 3D 
