498 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
. remaining attached to the bottom after the main portion of the sponge is torn 
loose. It often happens that the hooks are inserted above the base, and more 
or less of the root is left to grow into a new sponge. On overworked beds the 
spongers frequently find apparently large sponges which are so flat that the hooks 
can not be inserted at all, and a bed which has been fished continuously for a 
series of years produces more flat sponges than when first discovered. It is 
probably because the beds are only worked at intervals of several years that the 
New ground sponges have a greater height than those from other Key grounds, 
and the sponges now being taken from the rested Bamboo Key grounds are 
higher than those formerly obtained. It is not at all unlikely that this regener- 
ation of attached ‘‘roots” is a more important factor in the rejuvenation of the 
beds than is generally supposed. 
The greatest abuse connected with hooking is the capture of small sponges, 
though the proportion of those below the legal limit of 4 inches is smaller 
than in the catch of the divers. This abuse is always greater on partially 
depleted grounds, which are less able to stand the drain, than on newer and more 
productive beds. A gradual reduction of the average size of the individual 
sponges taken is always a serious symptom of depletion already accomplished 
and a potent cause of greater depletion to come. 
NUDE DIVING. 
Nude diving is not practiced to any extent in the fisheries of the western 
Atlantic, and though it appears less objectionable than almost any other method 
it is prohibited by the laws of Florida. The natural limitations imposed upon 
this fishery are stringent and are such as to prevent the depletion of most 
beds by this method alone. The sea must be moderate and the water fairly 
clear, while the brevity of the period of submergence and the length of the 
intervening rests, together with the small proportion of men who will develop 
into first-class divers, makes the devastation of the beds by such means a 
remote contingency. Although sponges unattainable by other means can be 
taken by this, the history of the Mediterranean beds leads to the conclusion 
that nude diving is comparatively harmless to the sponge grounds. 
MACHINE DIVING. 
The objections which have been urged against the use of the diving machine 
_are resolvable into essentially two: (1) That the divers with their heavy-mailed 
shoes crush innumerable young sponges in walking over the bottom, and (2) 
that they take everything, large and small, leaving the bottom denuded of the 
growth essential for reproduction. 
The first objection appears ridiculous to anyone familiar, either theoretically 
or practically, with the principles of diving. It is true that the diver as he appears 
