THE COMMERCIAL SPONGES AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES. 421 
specimens of which are classed as yellow sponges. Most of the others can be 
assigned to one or the other of Hyatt’s varieties which Lendenfeld includes 
in his Euspongia officinalis rotunda. Common among these are conical or 
club-shaped forms sometimes bluntly branched (Hyatt’s agaricina corlosia var. 
elongata) or rounded specimens attached by a narrow base (Hyatt’s officinalis 
tubtlijera var. rotunda). In both of these the surface is composed of narrow 
ridges separating small circular apertures and covered with short bristles. The 
larger of these sponges tend to become conical and somewhat flattened in a 
vertical plane, and they are also usually softer and more compressible than the 
smaller individuals. The oscula are large and conspicuous, they usually lie on 
more or less prominent rounded eminences and at the summits of the blunt 
branches, and tend to become slit-shape or elongate, especially on the sides. 
The hardhead sponges are used for applying shoe dressings, as desk sponges 
and for various purposes in the arts not requiring great softness. They are in 
general more durable than reef sponges. 
WIRE SPONGES. 
The wire sponge (pl. Lv and Lrx), sometimes called ‘“‘ bastard sheepswool,”’ 
somewhat resembles the wool sponge in superficial appearance, though it more 
closely simulates the honeycomb sponge of the Mediterranean. In shape it is 
regular, rather broader than high, and attached by a broad base. The sides are 
perforated by numerous circular or polygonal orifices, separated by thin-edged 
partitions which, while sometimes ending in bristly tufts, are never prolonged 
into the long, soft, expanded processes characteristic of the sheepswool sponge, 
the surface of the wire sponge therefore lying in a more uniform plane. The 
oscula or ‘‘ eyes” are confined to the upper surface, are smaller and more numerous 
than in the sheepswool sponge, and are rarely or never situated on the summits 
of cones rising above the general surface. 
The wire sponge differs from the honeycomb sponge in its more open surface 
and general texture, its more bristly appearance, its much thicker fibers, and 
coarser, more open felt. If the fibers are examined under a lens they will be 
found heavily charged with sand granules, which impart to the sponge its charac- 
teristically harsh feel. 
Until very recently wire sponges were rarely brought to market on account 
of their numerous bad qualities—their harshness, their lack of strength and 
absorptiveness, and the readiness with which they drain after being wet. Within 
the last year, however, a considerable demand has arisen, and they now yield 
the spongers a price per bunch about on a par with that of yellow sponges. 
They are all exported, and there is good reason to believe that they are bleached 
and sold as Mediterranean pe They come almost entirely from the 
west coast of Florida. 
