43 



weio loft hvnig m lie decayed spouge. I kept the ovaries, ia- 

 tondmg; when I liad time to mount some of tliem for the micros- 

 cope. In August last my attention was called to the jjlass cell 

 containmg the ovaries, when I observed around somcof tlfcm, what 

 looked very like the new sponge that I had seen in Januarj' last 

 and on placing it under the microscope it proved to be young sponge 

 which, without doubt, had proceeded from out of the ovaries through 

 the loramen, wluch was now seen to be open, and the interior qui°tc 

 empty. 1 he escape of the contents of the ovaria I should have liked to 



hTX^f r ' "' 'Y' ^^^^'J ""^ ^''^ interesting indeed ; but this 

 had already taken place, and the now spouge was growing round 

 the empty ovaries. The hrst T saw appeared as a thin gelatiuous. 

 semi transparent matter adliering to the glass, in which at first no 

 spicula were visib e, nor were the pores discernable. This was on 

 September 1st; by September 7th the sponge had grown, and 

 spicules uere numerous projecting over the edge of the first-formed 

 sponge, and the inflated tube, or ex-current canal during that time 

 had been produced, through wliich a swift current of water was 

 seen to pour, carrying out with it the eftete particles from the in- 

 terior of the sponge ; the incurrent was also visible through the 

 pores. When small particles of floating matter slowly approached 

 the edge of the sponge and had got witliin the influence of the in- 

 current. Its motion was then visibly increased, and it then darted 

 quickly into the open pores of the sponge. This current drawn in 

 through the pores, and discharged through the ex-current canal is 

 caused by ciha with wluch the sponge cells are lined. This cilia I 

 beheve has never been seen in operation in situ, it is impossible to 



^fn'n l"J !'' "' 'VT'^''"'''v' 1^^°'' P^^"" °^ ^^'' microscope to detect 

 1 , and that cannot be applied to the pores of the linno"^ sponge, as 

 the mass of the sponge is too thick. With a view of det^^ctinci if 

 possible the cilia m the living sponge, Mr. G. Gulliver, jxm , 

 brouglit his microscope, with a high power objective, and took 

 out one of the snia 1 growing sponges from the glass cell in which 

 I kept them, but the cilia could not be seen until he tore tlie spon-e 

 to pieces with needles, thereby breaking open the sponge cells, 

 when the cilia was plainly shown, lashing, whiplike, and becoming 

 sower in Its motion as the death of the sponge approached, when 

 the eiha became rigid and motionless. Tliese openings which are 

 denominated pores, are lined with sponge particles, each of which 

 IS provided with a vibratile cilium ; and as tliese cilia work in one 

 direction towards tlie ex-current canal, thcv sweep the water out 

 in that direction, and its place is taken by fresli water, which flows 

 in through the small apertures. The currents of water carrv alon- 

 such matters as are suspended in them, and these are appropriated 

 by the sponge particles hning the passages. Ey the next mcetin<^ 

 It may be possible to give some further illustration of this interesting 



