54 SPONGES 
backward. but further forward, then became arrested. The new twig above 
this at ec, came upon the old branch directly at right angles and passed partly 
around it. ‘The twig at E after bending at 0, reached the branch at a sliehtly 
oblique angle. and on account of another branch being in the way, after pro- 
gressing forward a little way, its growth was forced abruptly backward. At 
F the twig hasrome in contact with the branch alone its side not directly 
against it. ax in other instances; yet even in this case it did not progress far. 
All of these examples of anastomosis occurred within a short distance of one an- 
other, but there were hundreds of similar cases in this same sponge. 
Upon the most careful examination of this and other sponges of the species 
where a new vrowth has come in contact with an old one, I have failed to de- 
tect the slivht-st sien af any revivification of the old skeleton. ‘This has led me 
to theconclusion that after the horny matter has been deposited over any por- 
tion of the tibet. no outward growth of buds nor twigs can take place. This 
conclusion is borne out by the fact, previously meationed, that two old ‘spong- 
es coming incontact do not anastomose along their sides. 
From thix we may judge that when a sponge is torn away from its base, 
that nonew erowth of fiber can take place along the broken surface. I am 
more convinced of this upon further examination into the matter during the 
past winter. When inthe Bahamas in 1893,I gathered some Logger-head 
Sponges from a bar m Nassau Harbor near Fort Montigue. ‘Two of these, 
which were about a foot in diameter, I partly pulled up, but left a smaller por- 
tion of the base attached. When I came to examine these sponges three vears 
later, I found that although new sponge flesh had formed over the broken por- 
