XXXI.-THE RAISING OF SPONGES FROM CUTTINGS. 



By Dr. Emil von Marenzeller.* 



[Verhandlungen derk. k. zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien — Vienna, 1878.] 



The Imperial Ministry of Agriculture in Vienna has placed at the dis- 

 posal of the society a report by Mr. Gregor Buceich, a telegraph-operator 

 on the island of Lesina, in Dalmatia (made in 1870), on the experiments 

 in raising sponges artificially according to Prof. O. Schmidt's method. 

 Mr. Buccich had himself founded his little establishment, and for some 

 time received an appropriation from the ministry; but from various 

 causes the establishment is not in operation at the present time. The 

 above-mentioned report contained a sort of diary, and gave the results 

 of experiments which had been continued for six years. The directors 

 of the society shared the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture, that 

 it would be useful to publish this report and thus preserve the princi- 

 ples laid down in it, because it had been fully proved that although the 

 hope to create a new source of income for the poor coast population of 

 Dalmatia had not been realized, the principle that sponges can be raised 

 from cuttings had been fully established. The Imperial Ministry of Ag- 

 riculture cheerfully granted the request of the society to examine all 

 the other documents on the subject, principally original reports of Prof. 

 O. Schmidt, some of which have appeared in the " Austria," a publica- 

 tion which has ceased to appear. With these sources at my command, 

 I wrote the following article with a view of giving a brief guide to any 

 persons, both at home and abroad, who are interested in the culture of 

 sponges. 



Eegarding the history of sponge-culture in the Adriatic, a few re- 

 marks will suffice. After Prof. O. Schmidt in an article in the Wiener 

 Zeitung, and in his work on the sponges of the Adriatic, f had expressed 

 the opinion " that if a perfectly fresh sponge is cut into suitable pieces, 

 and if these pieces, properly protected, are again placed in the sea, they 



* Die Aufzuclit des Badeschicammes mis Tlieihtiicken. Von Dr. Emil von Marenzeller. 

 [Translated by Herman Jacobson.] 



t u Die Spongien des adriatischen Meeres." Leipzig, 1862, p. 22. See also, 0. Schmidt, 

 " Supplement dcr Spongien des adriatischen Meeres.''' Leipzig, 18G4, p. 24, and especially, 

 Brehm, " Thierlcben," 2d edition, vol. 10. Lower Animals; by O. Scbiuidt, 1878, p. 

 534. 



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