nee 
JOURNAL 
OF THE 
- Elisha Mitchell Scientific Socety. 
FIFTEENTH YEAR——PART SECOND. 
1898. 
ON THE FEASIBILITY OF RAISING SPONGES 
FROM THE EGG* 
H. V. WILSON. 
For the purposes of scientific investigation the problem 
suggested in the title of this paper presents no difficulties 
to the zoologist. Whether. omtheother hand, it is prac- 
ticable or even desirable to rear sponges from the ego for 
the purposes of the sponge-grower, is a question which 
can only be decided by experiments carried on contin- 
-uously for some years. From the standpoint of the 
scientific breeder such experiments seem eminently 
aesirable, ana the probability that they would result in 
economic discoveries of importance is very great. It is 
my purpose to point out, toward the end of this paper, 
some of the advantages attainable, as I believe, by this 
method of breeding. I shall preface my remarks on the 
rearing of sponges with a brief account: of the manner 
in which the egg development goes on. 
*Extracted from ‘‘Proceedings and Papers of the National Fishery 
Congress held at Tampa, Fla., Jan. 1898,’’ published in Bulletin of 
U.S. Fish Commission, Washington, 1898, 
