448 REPORT — 1856. 



appeared to be in course of production over tlie whole of the cut surface. 

 The surfaces of the first simple incised wound could not be readily separated, 

 and a sufficient amount of adhesion had evidently taken place within, to 

 prevent the wounded surfaces from separating without the application of 

 some amount of violence. At 10 a.m. of the 9th of June, I examined 

 this specimen again, and found that the deep incised wound had entirely 

 closed, and a firm and strong membrane had united the previously separated 

 parts of the surface of the sponge so completely that a separation of the sides 

 of the wound could not have been effected without a degree of violence that 

 would have endangered the whole sponge. The large notch that had been 

 cut on the other end of the sponge had also been completely repaired. The 

 edges of the wound had lost all their angularity, and the sides of the cut, in 

 which when first made there were numerous orifices arising from sections 

 of the great canals, were now covered by the new membrune, which entirely 

 closed all the orifices caused by the wounding of the sponge ; and so com- 

 plete was the reparation, that the indentation appeared to be merely one of 

 the natural depressions of the surface of the sponge. From 11 to 12 o'clock 

 the sponge exhibited ex-current action from its principal oscula, and among 

 those in full action was one which had been bisected in the act of making 

 the deep simple incision across the substance of the sponge. 



On the 8th of June, at 4 p.m., I also wounded several sponges of the same 

 species hi situ, on the rocks in St. Catherine's cave, by cutting notches 

 about the eighth of an inch in breadth and depth in their surface, or by cut- 

 ting out conical masses from near the middle of the sponges about a quarter 

 of an inch in diameter at the surface of the sponge ; and in another case I 

 cut a slice from the surface about three quarters of an inch in diameter, and 

 about one-tenth of an inch in thickness at the middle of the sponge. My 

 object in this experiment was to ascertain whether any difference in the 

 results would arise from the very different condition under which the last and 

 the present experiments were made. 



On examining the wounded sponges in their natural localities twenty-four 

 hours after the wounds had been made, I found the results to be precisely 

 the same as in those that I had kept in a state of perfect quiescence; the 

 continued action of the water upon them had not retarded the reparative pro- 

 cess in the slightest degree, nor had the quiescent condition of those which I 

 had retained in the dishes apparently accelerated the healing process. 



June 12. — I cut off a piece from the small end of a specimen of H. carun- 

 cula, about 1| inch in length, at 12 o'clock at noon, and let it remain sepa- 

 rated for about an hour. I then placed the two surfaces in contact in sea- 

 water. At half-past 11 p.m. they had already united, but were evidently 

 not strongly cemented together. I drained off the water as usual at that 

 period, and left them without any during the night; at 11 a.m., on June 13th, 

 they were completely and firmly united. On June 13th, at noon, with 

 a view to ascertain whether the healing process emanated from the dermal 

 membrane, from the interior substance of the sponge, or from both, I cut 

 a notch, about the eighth of an inch in width, entirely round the middle of 

 the same sponge, and then cut it asunder through the middle of the notch, 

 replaced it in sea-water, and brought the two sides of the section in 

 close contact, to ascertain whether the healing process would take place 

 independent of the dermal membrane. On June the 14th, at 10 a.m., I found 

 the two pieces firmly cemented together without contact of the dermal 

 membrane. 



June 13th. — At noon, from a specimen of H. caruncula, about 1|^ inch long 

 by 1^ broad, I cut a slice from the top of the sponge f inch long by about 



