THE COMMERCIAL SPONGES AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES. 423 
Toilet sponges are rather generally distributed in the Mediterranean from 
the Adriatic and the coast of Tunis eastward. They are used for toilet pur- 
poses, in surgery, and for leather dressing, pottery making, and various other 
purposes of the arts. 
A somewhat similar sponge is found in great abundance at Sitanki, Philip- 
pineIslands. (PI.Lxuui.) Its general texture closely resembles the toilet sponge, 
but its upper surface bears longer tufts of fibers and numerous uniformly dis- 
tributed oscula or pores about one-eighth inch in diameter, characters which 
cause it to resemble in that respect some of the grass sponges from the Florida 
Keys. It is very soft, but much weaker than the toilet sponge and about as 
strong as Key grass.? 
ZIMOCCA SPONGES. 
These sponges (Euspongia zimocca) are massive, more or less conical, 
broader than high, sometimes flat on top, sometimes concave, occasionally cup- 
shaped, and usually attached by arather small base. (Pl. ux1v.) The oscula 
are scattered over the upper surface, occasionally arranged in irregular radial 
rows, and are frequently, though by no means always, surrounded by ramparts 
of bristly fibers. The whole outer surface consists of a reticulation of narrow 
ridges, inclosing numerous small pores and bearing short fibrous villosities 
which generally become longer and softer toward the upper surface. The sur- 
face texture of the skeleton resembles that of some of the Cuban and Nassau 
hardhead sponges, but the orifices are smaller, the intervening ridges are nar- 
rower, and the skeleton softer and more durable. 
The zimocca sponge is found commercially in the Adriatic, the Dardanelles, 
on the west coast of Asia Minor, the coasts of Egypt, Tripoli, and Tunis, the islands 
of the Grecian Archipelago, Crete, Cyprus, Corsica, and Lampedusa. The 
zimocca sponges are the harshest of the Mediterranean grades, but in common 
with other kinds they become softer when bleached, though they are less dura- 
ble. Both bleached and unbleached they are darker in color. They are used 
for toilet purposes, and by potters, leather dressers, and other artisans. They 
are generally too harsh for surgical purposes. 
Seale describes a sponge which on the advice of a New York dealer he calls 
a ‘‘ Philippine zimocca.’’ The specimen shown to me was of excellent quality 
and commercially valuable, but was certainly not a zimocca sponge. 
HONEYCOMB, BATH, OR HORSE SPONGES. 
These are the Hippospongia equina elastica of Lendenfeld and are classed by 
zoologists with the yellow sponge of the Florida Keys, from which it differs 
a1 have recently seen one of these, in a good state of preservation, which has been in daily use 
for bath purposes for two years. 
