484 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
gava brought about $1.80, and those caught by the divers from $1.80 to $2.90 
per pound, the product of the scaphander being superior in quality as well as 
larger. 
The sponges taken on the banks of Lampedusa and the Sicilian Sea are 
Turkey cup and toilet, elephant ear, zimocca, and honeycomb. They vary 
in quality on the different beds. 
ALGERIA AND MOROCCO. 
There are sponges on the coast of Algeria, but beds extensive and rich 
enough to warrant a fishery are unknown. ‘The elephant ear was recorded from 
Bona many years ago, and a toilet sponge similar to that of the Adriatic has 
been found at LaCalle, Philippeville, and other places on the coast. Within 
a few years the Spaniards have explored the coast of Morocco and have found 
beds capable of commercial development. 
METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
The methods followed in fishing for sponges in the Mediterranean, though 
differing somewhat in details, are essentially the same as those employed on the 
coast of Florida, with the addition of nude diving (which though occasionally 
practiced on the American coasts has never been of any importance commer- 
cially) and dredging. 
Wading.—This was probably the primitive method of sponging in the > 
Mediterranean, as it was in Florida, but with the extermination of the sponges 
in shoal water it has long disappeared as a factor in the fishery, excepting on the 
coast of Tunis. The natives of Gherbis and the Kerkennahs take a few sponges 
in this manner, wading in the water to their necks when the sea is smooth, 
detaching them with their toes and kicking them within reach of the hands, and 
occasionally diving into the holes where the water is slightly deeper. The 
sponges taken by this method are inferior. 
Nude diving.—This is another ancient method and a logical sequence of the 
preceding. It is practiced principally by the Greeks of the Archipelago, the 
Syrians, and natives of the Tripolitan and Tunisian littorals. It is said that the 
most skilled naked or ‘‘common”’ divers are from the islands of Calymnos and 
Symi, and that some of them can descend to the enormous depth of 240 to 250 
feet. If this be true it is far in excess of the depths reached by ordinary divers, 
which usually do not exceed 150 feet. They ordinarily remain under water 
about two minutes, resting about thirty minutes between dives, but experts 
sometimes stay down four minutes, and it is stated on good authority that two 
extraordinary divers of Calymnos remained under water over five minutes, 
though the depth is not stated. 
To aid their descent the divers hold in their hands a flat stone (scandli) 
attached to a cord, the other end of which is held by a man in the boat. When 
