53 



for consideration ; these should be fitted with a small 

 pumping apparatus that might be connected with the 

 ordinary steam machinery, or might be driven indepen- 

 dently by electricity ; the end in either case to be accom- 

 plished, being the constant circulation and aeration of the 

 water, which would be absolutely necessary to preserve the 

 sponges in a healthy condition throughout the journey. It 

 might, in addition, be found requisite during certain por- 

 tions of the voyage to maintain the water, artificially, at or 

 about the temperature of 70° Fahr., by means of steam- 

 pipes connected with the engine boilers, conducted to the 

 neighbourhood of the tanks. 



On arriving at their destination, the sponges should be 

 planted out in some one or more of the many sheltered 

 lagoons that abound in the Bahama Islands in depths 

 ranging from three to ten or twelve feet. Under such 

 conditions they could at all times be readily inspected, and 

 their state of health and growth be periodically registered. 

 It would, of course, be necessary to take measures to effec- 

 tually protect the selected sponge grounds from robbery 

 or interference with by the local or other fishermen. These 

 sponges, once established and effectively protected, would 

 soon develop and liberate germs in such numbers as to 

 secure the naturalization of the species throughout the 

 adjacent waters. An important point has, however, yet to 

 be decided before it can be predicated with certainty, that 

 sponges equal in quality to the finest Levant variety can 

 be successfully cultivated in the Bahama seas. This point 

 is, whether the special conditions that obtain in these 

 waters would favour the growth and reproduction of the 

 imported Mediterranean sponges in their primitive fine- 

 fibred condition, or, whether under the new surroundings to 

 which they^would be subjected they would manifest a 



