604 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
ent the owners of capital to take a rush into the unknown by embarking on a 
venture of this kind before patient investigations had thrown some scientific 
light on the principal obscure points. 
SPONGE CULTURE BY MEANS OF CUTTINGS. 
This is the only method of sponge culture on which we possess any precise 
information, as this is the only one which has been seriously experimented with. 
In early antiquity observations were made on the facility with which sponges 
could regenerate. Aristotle affirms that “when a sponge is torn off it may be 
regenerated from the fragment left and become complete.’’ The fishermen of 
the Mediterranean Sea continue to believe this. Hennique says that four 
years are necessary for a torn-off sponge to regain a good size. Masse likewise 
believes that the root of torn-off sponges grows up again, and he supposes also 
that the skeleton of the new sponge is less fine than that which it succeeds. 
This latter opinion can not be accepted without being tested, for it seems that 
if it were true the commercial varieties of sponges would have degenerated long 
since. 
The first really scientific observations on the regeneration of sponges are 
due to Cavolini. This author demonstrated that a sponge which was detached 
from its support could adhere to a new support and continue to grow. Vaillant 
remarked that after isolating the cortex and the central part of Tethya lyncu- 
rium these two regions were susceptible of reproducing a complete individual; 
he also succeeded in grafting, the one on the other, two individuals of the same 
species. 
But O. Schmidt had already undertaken research in this line on Eus- 
pongia officinalis adriatica, the soft fine sponge of the Adriatic Sea. In “Die 
Spongien des Adriatischen Meeres” he announces his first attempts and com- 
plains of lack of capital. He was soon assisted as to the financial difficulty by 
the Deputation de la Bourse of Trieste; he met likewise in Buccich a valuable 
collaborator, thanks to whom he could continue at Socolizza, northeast of 
Lesina, a long series of experiments (1863-1872). The results obtained by 
Schmidt and Buccich were studied and commented upon in an excellent report 
by Marenzeller. 
O. Schmidt and Buccich observed that the best season for operation was 
winter, as during this time it was possible to manipulate the sponges in the 
open air and thus cause a minimum of injury to them; they may be kept several 
hours in the open air in winter, whereas their exposure in summer would be fatal 
after a few minutes’ time. It was possible to secure the survival and develop- 
ment of fragments of sponges that had remained eight hours in the shade in 
February with a temperature of 7° Réaumur. On the other hand, the growth 
of the cuttings is slower in winter. 
