418 



Popular Science Monthly 



<i^^ 



Raising Sponges on a Bed of Cement. 

 The Sponges Like It 



THINK of raising animals on slabs of 

 cement placed on the bottom of the 

 ocean! Of course we mean sponges; for 

 sponges are merely simple 

 animals. The Bureau of Fish- 

 eries has discovered that 

 sponges like cement better 

 than coral rock, stakes or 

 copper wire — like it so well in- 

 deed that Ameri- 

 can sponge culture 

 has grown from 

 practically noth- 

 ing into a million- 

 dollar industry. 



Cement disks 

 and triangles have 

 been used with 

 great success in 

 the sponge beds of 

 Cuba and the Ba- 

 hamas. The 

 sponges readily at- 

 tach themselves to 

 the firm, clean sur- 

 face and thrive on 

 it. The disks, 

 about ten inches in 

 diameter and one 



and one-quarter inches thick, are com- 

 posed of a mixture of one part of cement 

 to three or four parts of sand. Two holes, 

 about four inches apart, are made in each 

 by thrusting an iron bar through the 

 cement before it hardens. The disks can 

 be made for less 

 than two cents each. 



The cuttings or 

 seed sponges are at- 

 tached to the disks 

 in the manner 

 shown in the 

 photograph. A thin 

 wire is generally 

 strong enough to 

 hold them securely 

 to the disks. Each 

 disk and triangle is 

 numbered so that 

 the Bureau of Fish- 

 eries knows the 

 growth and behav- 

 ior of the cuttings 

 at all times. 



% 



^^ 



Sponges growing on tdangles of cement. 

 Below: Thin wires attach the cuttings or 

 seed sponges to the heavy cement disks 



The pail has a glass bottom through which 

 the fisherman can locate the sponges 



Why Not Hooverize by Eating Lizards 

 and Alligators? 



MANY reptiles are edible and if sold 

 under other names they would be 

 palatable as well. Most of us eat 

 diamond-back terrapin if we 

 can afford it, and more of us 

 enjoy green turtle soup. Yet 

 both terrapin and turtles are 

 reptiles. The eggs of the 

 'j,reen turtle are said to be 

 more nutritious 

 than hen's eggs. 

 Along the Amazon 

 and Orinoco rivers 

 in South America, 

 turtle eggs form 

 an important food 

 item. 



That lizards 

 may be eaten 

 seems more 

 strange. Yet they 

 were so popular a 

 food in the Ba- 

 hama Islands that 

 they have been 

 hunted almost to 

 extinction. Flor- 

 ida alligators are 

 said to be really 

 delicious. Their appearance is certainly 

 against them, but when carefully skinned, 

 the flesh is no more repulsive looking than 

 that of pork or veal. The taste has some- 

 thing of that of both fish and meat. 

 That Americans will ever eat snakes is 

 more than doubt- 

 ful. Just why they 

 should be consid- 

 ered more offen- 

 sive than eels or 

 snails is a gastro- 

 nomic problem. 

 But large snakes 

 are so scarce in this 

 country that we 

 shall probably 

 never be called 

 upon to conquer our 

 prejudice. The pig 

 and the oyster, both 

 of which we rel- 

 ish, are unexcelled 

 as scavengers by 

 any reptile. 



