developed. Fastened to the rocks .])y roots, maturing germs like 

 buds, and looking like a fungus, an ordinary observer can hardly 

 believe the learned men of science when informed by them that 

 it is an animal. The spongidae are found in water from twelve 

 to thirty feet deep, and are detached from the rocks by divers or 

 by fisliermen witli the aid of long poles having hooks with two 

 jjrongs. Water glasses, like those hereafter described in our chap- 

 ter upon corals, are also used when the water is rough. A large 

 number of boats and men are employed in the business. 



When we went to Nassau we supposed we knew sponges, but 

 we were greatly mistaken. When taken from the water they are 

 dark colored, and in appearance resemble liver. The sponge of 

 commerce consists of the flexible fibrous skeletons of a large colony 

 of sponges. The very small and clustered animals are so closely 

 united, and so arranged, as to form a mass of tubes, through 

 which the sea water containing their food is made to circulate 

 by means of very small hairs or cilia which line the cavities, and 

 vibrate at the will of the animal, so that each can take its ap- 

 propriate nourishment as the water passes through. It seems to 

 be a communistic community, where each works for the common 

 benefit of all. The principle Avorks well, and would jjroduce 

 equally good results in human societies if man had only a little 

 more of the nature and disposition of a sponge conferred upon 

 him. The water is discharged through the larger orifices. It 

 has been well said that " the sponge represents a kind of suba- 

 queous city, where the people are arrayed about the streets and 

 roads, in such a manner that each can appropriate liis food from 

 the water as it passes along." The supply of water is stopped 

 when tlie orifices or gates of these marine cities are closed, but 

 how such multitudes of animals, that are inseparably united and 

 permanently attached to one spot, can be so regulated and man- 

 aged as to secure harmony and the common good of all, we cannot 

 fully understand. 



