SPONGE CULTURE. 613 
larve would be retarded or diminished in such individuals in similar proportion. 
It would then be quite illogical to use sponge cuttings even for this purpose. 
What opinion should we have of a horse breeder who would use only sick, 
crippled, or deformed stallions with which to increase his stock? 
From whatever standpoint it be considered, sponge culture by cuttings 
seems to us only a scientific amusement which can not have any practical 
application. 
CONCLUSION. 
We see from the preceding that experiments in sponge culture so far made 
forbid all hope of ever seeing in current practice methods like the above, and 
command us most imperiously to warn those desiring to undertake this industry 
against imprudent advice which they might receive on this subject. There 
remain, however, other methods which have not been attempted or which were 
not tried seriously enough and on which our opinion must remain provisionally 
pending. Let us wait before expressing it definitely; let us await carefully 
conducted experiments to enlighten us. It would be unfortunate for the fame 
of applied natural science if industrial attempts at sponge culture, after having 
been lauded by naturalists, brought about failure from a financial point of view 
or ended in insignificant results, as when the mountain gave birth to a mouse. 
Thorough consideration ought to be given to the matter before engaging 
capital in an enterprise that might be dangerous. Since the gradual exhaustion 
of the banks threatens all sponge-bearing countries, however, those interested 
in this question should be reminded that more important and more easily solved 
problems urgently claim their attention. There should be as uniform legis- 
lation as possible, promulgated after international agreement, regulating in 
various countries (1) the period for sponge fishing, so as to allow the swarming 
of the mature larve; (2) the minimum size of individual sponges fished and 
offered for sale; (3) the fishing apparatus, either in regard to character or 
number; and (4) the security of banks situated in neutral waters. 
This is the first programme to be considered. When this is done, let us 
hope that precise researches during the interval shall have carried the question of 
sponge culture a few steps further, and that we shall have then a new basis for 
appreciation in thorough knowledge. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
ALLEMAND, M. A. 
Etude de physiologie appliquée a la spongiculture sur les cétes de Tunisie. Comptes rendus 
du Congrés A. T. A.S. Lyon, 1906. Also, Thése de la Faculté des Sciences de Lyon, 1906. 
ALLEN, E. J. : 
Report on the sponge fishery of Florida and the artificial culture of sponges. Journal Marine 
Biological Association, n. s., vol. Iv, 1896. Supplement, ibid. 
ARISTOTLE. 
Livre v, chap. xiv, traduction de Barthélemy St. Hilaire, t. u, Paris. 
