122 A MONOGRAPH OF THE AUSTRALIAN SPONGES, 



THE NAME. 



The word " Sponge " is derived from the Greek (nroyyia 

 which name was accepted by the Romans without an alteration : 

 Spongia. The same root a-noyy is met with in most languages : 

 sponge, spongea, spynge Anglo-saxon, spunge Old English, sponge 

 English, spongie Old Hollandish, spons Hollandish, esponge Old 

 French, eponge French, spogna, spognct Italian, esponga Spanish, 

 esponja, esponga Provence. The German schwamm, Old German 

 schwunnu, and the Norwegian Swamp are not related to the Greek 

 word. The same is the case with the Russian gubak, Hebrew 

 ekba and Chaldaic Akuba. 



Before entering into our subject, I shall give a brief account of 

 our knowledge of the sponges, and cite the most important work s 

 on the subject, so as to enable any one of my readers who might 

 wish to study the sponges, to find the references he requires. 



It is always interesting to know, how any special science or 

 branch thereof, has been developed, and I shall therefore give a 

 short historic introduction, — an Embryology of Spongiology. 



HISTORY OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPONGES. 



I. — From Aristoteles to Belon, 350 a.G — 1553. Classical 



Period. 



As in nearly every other branch of Natural Science, so we find 

 also here the first scientific description of Sponges in Aristoteles 

 (384 — 322 a.C.) He described three species of Ceraospongise (I) 



"eon fie ra>v (TTToyycov rp'ia ytvq, 6 fiev fxavos, 6 fie ttvkvos, rplros S ov 

 koXovctlv A^tXKeiov XfTTToraros K.a\ ttvkpotcitos kcu tcr^updraros' 



The three sponges referred to by Aristoteles, doubtless belong 

 to the family of the Spongidte of F. E. Schulze (2). 



(1). Aristoteles. 7repl fwcof laroplas. Liber V , Cap. 16., § 76. 



(2). F. E. Schulze. Ueber den Bau und die Entwickelung der Spongien, 

 VII. Dit> Fainilie der Spo/iaidce. Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie 

 Band, XXXII. 



