THE COMMERCIAL SPONGES AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES, 419 
and Cuban sponges. ‘There are occasional soft specimens, but’ in general they 
are so hard as to be of little commercial value. 
GLOVE SPONGES. 
This is the Spongia graminea of Hyatt, which Lendenfeld in his synonymy 
includes with certain Australian specimens in his Hippospongia canaliculata, 
var. flabellum, though the description which he furnishes does not apply, except 
perhaps as to the character of the fibers. 
The shape is never ‘thickly flabellar,” but almost invariably stoutly 
columnar, the sides being almost vertical and contracted at the top, which is 
usually flat. The base is almost as broad as the sponge. The appearance of this 
species is very characteristic, the sides being fluted with irregular vertical par- 
allel ridges between which lie one or two rows of round holes from ;,; to #, 
inch in diameter. The ridges are frequently swollen on their free edges, which 
always bear long, ragged pencils of fibers. When the grooves are deep the 
ridges become plates, which viewed from above have a radial arrangement. 
They begin a short distance above the base and extend over the top of the 
sponge as far as the large open compound vents, which remotely resemble 
those of the velvet sponge. 
Glove sponges are found on the Key and Bay grounds of Florida (pl. LIv) 
and in the Bahamas. Those from the Bay ground are very poor and are rarely 
brought in by the spongers, to whom they are known as ‘‘bread sponges, ’’ on 
account of their excessive tenderness. Glove sponges are very soft and elastic, 
but owing to the weakness of their fiber and their open texture they are almost 
worthless for commercial purposes. Hyatt states that ‘this is one of the grass 
sponges;”’ hence his name for it, but it is now generally known by the name 
used here. 
The best glove sponges come from Biscayne Bay, where they grow stronger, 
less open, and with lower ridges than in other parts of the Keys. . 
’ 
REEF SPONGES. 
The few reef sponges taken on the Key grounds in Florida are generally 
included with the yellow sponges and do not reach the market as a distinct sort. 
Those found in the trade come from the Bahamas, the north coast of Cuba, and 
British Honduras, the former two localities producing sponges of essentially the 
same character, while those from Honduras are inferior, more irregular and open, 
and with other indications of shoal water origin. Reef sponges are also taken 
on the west coast of Haiti. 
Most reef sponges appear to belong to Lendenfeld’s species Euspongia 
officinalis rotunda, embracing many of Hyatt’s numerous varieties of Spongia 
