28 M.C. Semper on Euplectella aspergillum. 
As Gray correctly observes, the Spaniards in Cebu and 
Manilla regard this sponge as a house built for itself by the 
inhabitant. To judge from Gray’s last memoir, this opinion 
seems now to have been adopted by a French naturalist un- 
known to me, M. Trimoulet, of Bordeaux. When Gray adds, 
‘The [Spanish ?] fishermen’s theory has found one sczentific 
supporter at least,’ I should be inclined to regard the word 
“ scientific’ as employed only cum grano salis. In fact the 
most superficial knowledge of the structure of the sponge on 
the one hand, and of the habits of the Crustacea on the other, 
suffices to prove that this opinion might certainly originate in 
the brain of a Malay fisherman, but that its scdentific assertion 
would be a most startling task, which few would have desire 
or courage to undertake. It is true one must make discoveries; 
and if they are accepted and become the fashion only for a 
short time, this is perhaps sufficient for the attainment of the 
desired honour. I regard it as superfluous, after the beautiful 
investigations of Owen and Bowerbank upon this sponge, to 
describe its intimate structure over again, in order to strengthen 
the assertion that this French savant must and will find him- 
self in error. , 
And even if Trimoulet’s assertion ‘ that it is the nest of a 
crustacean of the section of the Lsopodes nageurs”’ were quite 
correct, it is true that an Isopod, a true ga, lives in the 
sponge, but not alone; for even still more frequently we 
find in it a pair of a pretty Palemonid, which, unfortunately, 
I cannot determine generically from the much damaged speci- 
mens now before me. If M. 'Trimoulet’s ‘‘ renseignements ”’ 
had been a little more complete, he would also have heard 
from the same Spaniards in Cebti that the “‘ Cuca’’* (that is 
to say, my diga spongiophila) is always found singly, but 
that, on the contrary, the ‘‘ Camarones”’ > (the Palaemonide 
above mentioned) always live in it in pairs—a married couple 
and the friend of the family! And, according to Trimoulet, 
“it is probable that their united endeavours have succeeded in 
weaving together the delicate siliceous web of the whole 
sponge, both without and within. Both forms of crusta- 
cea have long been known to me. Of one of them (ga 
spongiophila) I made a sufficiently careful drawing in Cebit, 
* “Cuca” is abbreviated from the Spanish word “cucaracha,” by 
se in Spain, all kinds of cockroaches and also the Asellini are indi- 
cated. 
+ “Camaron” is the Spanish name for every Paleemonid, both of fresh 
and salt water. Both denominations furnish a fresh proof of how cor- 
rectly uneducated and so-called savage people are frequently guided by 
their sharpened senses. . 
