82 Mr. H.J. Carter on the Freshwater Sponges of Bombay. 
nificance to have obtained that attention which would have led to 
a description of the minute differences now required. 
Not so with the nature of Spongilla,—that has been a disputed 
point ever since it was first studied; its claims to animality or 
vegetability with those of the other sponges have been canvassed 
over and over again by the ablest physiologists, and yet remain 
undecided ; still this subject does not appear to me to have been 
viewed in a proper light, for late discoveries would seem to show 
that there exists no line of demarcation between the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, but that on the contrary the one passes by 
gentle and at last imperceptible gradations into the other. From 
the existence of cells as the principal component parts and as the 
elaborators of the most complicated forms of animal and vege- 
table structures, and the intimate connection that obtains between 
these little organisms in both kingdoms in their isolated and in- 
dependent existences and in their simplest composite forms, of 
which I take Spongilla to be one, the time appears to have arrived 
for abandoning the question of the animality or vegetability of 
Spongilla, for the more philosophical consideration of the position 
it holds in that transitionary part of the scale of organized bodies 
which unites the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 
Hitherto only five species of Spongilla have been found in the 
island of Bombay ; they are the followmg :— 
1. Spongilla cinerea, nu. s.—Flat, surface slightly convex, pre- 
senting gentle eminences and depressions. Vents situated in the 
depressions, numerous, and tending to a quincuncial arrange- 
ment. Colour darkly cinereous on the surface, lighter towards 
the interior ; growing horizontally in cireular patches, which sel- 
dom attain more than half an inch in thickness. Texture com- 
pact, fine, friable. Structure confused, fibro-reticulate ; fibres 
perpendicular, densely aggregated and united by transverse fila- 
ments. Seed-like bodies spheroidal, about j;rd of an inch in 
diameter, presenting rough points externally. Spicula of two 
kinds, large and small; large spicula slightly curved, smooth, 
poited at both ends, about ~ th of an inch in length; small 
spicula slightly curved, thickly spiniferous, about 545th of an inch 
in length. (Plate III. fig. 5.) 
Hab. Sides of freshwater tanks in the island of Bombay, on 
rocks, stones, or gravel ; seldom covered by water more than six 
months in the year. 
Observations—While the investing membrane of this species 
remains intact, its surface presents a dark, rusty, copper-colour, 
purplish under water. It never appears to throw up any pro- 
cesses, and extends over surfaces of 2 and 3 feet in circumference, 
or accumulates on small objects to the thickness mentioned. It 
is distinguished from the other species by its colour, the fineness 
