550 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS IN SPONGE CULTURE. 
The basis of sponge culture by means of cuttings is in an observation made 
by F. Cavolini’ in 1785, that sponges cut into pieces would attach to foreign 
bodies and grow. 
In 1862 Oscar Schmidt’ repeated and confirmed this observation and was 
apparently the first to make the practical suggestion that the regenerative phe- 
nomena might be utilized in the development of a system of sponge culture. 
This suggestion bore fruit in the following year when the Austrian Government 
and certain merchants of Trieste established a station on the island of Lesina, 
which in 1867 was placed in charge of Gregor Buccich. Of the experiences of 
the first four years of this work there appears to be no record, but Buccich 
submitted a report which was made the basis of a paper by Dr. Emil von Maren- 
zeller® in 1878. 
Buccich appears to have discovered most of the salient facts relating to 
the growth of sponges from cuttings. He found that sponges can be removed 
from the water and cut in the air without injury; that in cool, damp weather 
they can be exposed to the air for eight hours without suffering material injury; 
that they can be cut and handled with less liability to injury during the winter; 
and that the cut surfaces will grow together or to certain foreign bodies with 
which they may be placed in contact. He observed also that apparently 
similar cuttings were sometimes dissimilar in their rates of growth, and that 
some cuttings would heal and live for years without material increase in size. 
Concerning the rate of growth, the information is indefinite. The cuttings 
were small (about 1(?) inch cube) and they are stated to have doubled or 
trebled in size (bulk?) during the first year, and to have grown to a ‘‘consider- 
able size” in five years, but that seven years would be required to produce a 
commercial product. There is no statement of the actual mortality among the 
cuttings experimented with, but it is estimated, upon what basis does not 
appear, that it would not be over ro per cent during the seven years. 
The methods employed by Buccich were various. He pegged the cuttings 
to stones, to the inside of wooden boxes, and to various other contrivances. 
In perforating the cuttings to admit the pegs, which latterly were of bamboo, 
he used ‘‘a trepan 6 millimeters wide, fastened to a vertical turning table, 
which was kept in rapid motion by a fly wheel.’”’ The experiments were ulti- 
mately abandoned after nine years, mainly on account of the hostile attitude of 
the inhabitants. The somewhat elaborate methods of handling and planting 
@ Cavolini, F.: Memorie per servire alla storia de’ polipi marini. Naples, 1785. 
6 Schmidt, O.: Die Spongien des Adriatischen Meeres. Leipzig, 1862. 
¢ Von Marenzeller, E.: Die Aufzucht des Badeschwammes aus Theilstiicken. Vienna, 1878. 
Translated in Report U.S. Fish Commission, 1879, p. 771-777. 
