64 



Tvith a yellowish brown gelatinous tissue veiling the beautiful 

 texture of the crystal framework. 



The first specimen obtained by Mr. Hugh Cuming was sold 

 in London for thirty pounds, others afterwards realised from 

 ten to fifteen pounds ; but fresh discoveries having lately been 

 made, they have become more plentifal, and the prices have 

 been very materially reduced. In nearly the whole of the 

 specimens I examined, there were different species of crabs and 

 other Crustacea, imprisoned in the crystal frame without any 

 opening to admit a possibility of escape, as secure as if in a 

 corked or sealed bottle, the mystery of their entrance has 

 puzzled learned naturalists, as the apples in the dumplings 

 did George the Third, or as the liqueurs in the sugar plums 

 have also mystified many wise heads. A question arises, how 

 they got in ? This can only be satisfactorily explained, either 

 by their having effected an entrance previous to the completion 

 in growth of the skeleton of the sponge, or what is still more 

 probable, when a rent has occurred accidentally in the delicate 

 net work, an entrance was effected before the injury had been 

 repaired, and which, when completed, render their escape im- 

 possible, for that this sponge has the power of secreting 

 eilicious matter for the reparation of any injury it may sustain, 

 can be proved by the examination of specimens in which 

 repairs of injuries have been made ; for the restoring power of 

 the sponges displays remarkable activity of their vital power 

 as shown by the rapidity and strength with which injuries 

 are repaired, for according to experiments made by Mr. 

 Bowerbank, injuries that bad been sustained by some sponges 

 were repaired in less than twenty-four hours. By some 

 naturalists it was supposed that the crabs were the architects 

 of this fairly-like structure, but they might have reflected, 

 that although crabs have the power of secreting calcareous, 

 they cannot produce a silicious or flinty matter, but as this 

 class of sponges is known to be capable of creating this silicious 

 material, we may readily be convinced that this elaborate and 

 exquisitely delicate lace tracery is their work. In 1857 

 Professor Owen and Dr. Arthur Farre, published in the 22nd 

 vol. of the Linnean Transactions, an account of another beauti- 

 ful species of ituplectella, under the name of JEuplectella 

 cucumer, or Cucumber Euplectella, from the peculiarity of 

 its form, which when first seen in the engraving, might 

 readily, and has been mistaken for the representation of that 

 singular vegetable production the Cactus, and it certainly bears 

 a close resemblance to the form of some of the species. It is 

 stated in the description to have been given to Captain 

 Etheridge, E. N., by the King of the Seychelle Islands, but as 

 no monarch resides at that group, it is most probable a mistake 



