EAST KENT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 15 



infancy, became finally settled down to pass the remainder of its 

 life in some fixed abode, there to fulfil its destiny by perpetuating 

 its species. And this is eifected, as is many other low animals — 

 the polypes, for example — in two modes ; by the production of 

 buds (gemmae) which assume the cilia and freedom already men- 

 tioned, or by the agency of ovaries. Hence we have an animal 

 belonging to a class far beneath that which includes the oyster ; 

 in short, the Sponges form a class, allied or belonging to the 

 Protozoa, and known as Porifera, so named from the inhalent and 

 exhalent orifices before described. The skeleton of sponges is 

 always composed of flexible fibres or laminse, or of rigid spicules ; 

 and these are either of horny matter, of carbonate of lime, or of 

 flint. So we have the orders Keratosa, Calcarea, and Silicea. 

 The horn-like material is soft and elastic when damp, as we are 

 familiar with it in the sponge of commerce ; and being of a peculiar 

 nature, is named Keratode, which is chiefly fibroin, a quater- 

 nary compound nearly allied to silk, and not found in the Vegetable 

 Kingdom. Thu8,besidesthe zoological characters before mentioned, 

 we have a proof from chemical investigation of the animality of the 

 Sponge. Fibroin of Sponge contains or is associated with a 

 notable quantit}^ of iodine, sulphur, and phosphorus. The 

 Sponges most commonly known, as well as the living specimens 

 of Spongilla shown to the meeting, have no particular shape ; 

 and indeed from this fact they were formerly included by De 

 Blainville in a class which he called Amorphozoa. But further 

 researches soon proved the insufiiciency of this characteristic ; 

 as indeed had been exemplified not long since before the East 

 Kent Natural History Society. One of those examples was a 

 large and grotesque form like a big bucket or tub incrusted with 

 a knobbed layer of stone, standing on a thick pedestal, with a 

 gnarled branching base resembling the root of an old tree, and all 

 crusted similarly by the hard mass composed chiefly of micro- 

 scopic spicules ; and thus presenting a shape so remarkable as to 

 become popularly known by the name of Neptune's Cup. It is 

 allied to the genus Cliona, came from the Mauritius, and was 

 submitted to the society, on the 27th of April, by the Rev. C. 

 W. Bewsher. Another, of surpassing beauty of detail and 

 regularity of shape, with its spicules so exqmsitely arranged as to 

 present a delicacy of filigree or fretwork on the surface that no 

 art could emulate, and the whole fashioned like the horn of 

 Amalthea, is known as Venus's Flower Vase {Euplectella) ; and 

 for an opportunity of examining this elegant form, the society had 

 been indebted to Mr. Sibert Saunders. Venus's Flower Vase 

 came at first from the Manilla seas. On the other hand, the 

 little sponge brought before the meeting on Thursday last is 

 common in Britain, quite shapeless, and not at all remarkable for 

 external beauty ; though its skeleton is very beautiful, being 

 composed of colorless spicules of flint, as transparent as the 

 finest rock crystal. Thus this species belongs to the Silicea, as do 

 all the few SpongiUse of our fresh waters. The spicules, displayed 



