49 



grounds upon an almost equal footing. It is at the same 

 time, as previously intimated, a generally acknowledged fact, 

 that, compared specifically with one another, the sponges 

 of the Bahama waters are more or less inferior in quality 

 and value to those obtained from the Mediterranean, while 

 the finest type of all, the Levant toilet or Turkish cup- 

 sponge {Spongia officinalis), has not, so far, been found on 

 the western shore of the Atlantic. The question has been 

 raised by Mr. Adderley, who has the material welfare of 

 the Bahama Islands so much at heart, " Whether it would 

 not be possible to import and acclimatise this finest quality 

 of the Turkish sponge in the Bahama seas ? " Should 

 this suggested scheme be found capable of practical reali- 

 sation, it is needless to remark that the value of the 

 Bahama fisheries would be enormously augmented. Before, 

 however, incurring the considerable expense that would be 

 necessarily involved in transporting living sponges in 

 proper condition and in sufficient quantity for acclimatisa- 

 tion purposes from the Mediterranean, it would be well 

 to ascertain whether sponges more nearly resembling the 

 finest Turkish form do not already exist in the deeper 

 areas of the Bahama seas. It is a well-known fact that the 

 finest quality of Mediterranean sponges are obtained from 

 so great a depth as from ten to thirty fathoms, and are 

 carefully collected at such a depth by trained divers, with 

 or without the aid of diving apparatus, or by means of 

 drags. In the American waters up to the present time, 

 diving operations have not been resorted to, the sponges 

 being fished up from a depth not exceeding five fathoms 

 with the aid of hooks and spears attached to a long pole. 

 It may be predicted with almost an approach to certainty, 

 that as good and probably better sponges than any that 

 . have yet been gathered, are to be obtained from the depths 

 [42] E 



