OCEAN LIFE. 5 



permeate the whole body, and convey the circumambient medium 

 to all parts of the porous mass. T. Rymer Jones. 



In a work entitled " Principles of Zoology, by L. Agassiz and 

 A. A. Gould," 1856, it is stated, " The Sponges have so great a 

 resemblance to some of the polypi, that they have been classed 

 among animals, although in reality they belong to the vegetable 

 kingdom." 



Dr. George Johnson says : " Sponge is a light, elastic, porous 

 substance, formed of interlaced horny fibres, producing, by their 

 numerous inosculations, a rude sort of net work, with meshes or 

 pores of unequal size, and usually of a square or rounded angu- 

 lated figure. Besides these pores, there are some circular holes 

 of a larger size (Oscula), scattered over the surface of most 

 Sponges, and which lead into sinuous canals that permeate their 

 interior in every direction. The oscula, canals and pores, com- 

 municate freely together, for the structure of the Sponge is alike 

 throughout the mass, or at most the texture of the surface is 

 merely a little more compact than the inner parts. The charac- 

 teristic property of Sponge is the facility with which it imbibes a 

 large quantity of any fluid, more especially of water, which is re- 

 tained amid the meshes until forced out again by a sufficient degree 

 of compression, when the specimen returns elastic to its former 

 bulk. From this peculiarity, combined with its pleasant soft- 

 ness, arises the value of Sponge, (the dried Sponge is only the 

 skeleton of the living animal.) When the Sponge is living and 

 recent, its canals and pores are filled with a glairy, colorless 

 fluid, like the white of an egg, which flows freely out on the re- 

 moval of the Sponge from the water. The quantity of this fluid 

 varies according to the species. In some it is copious, even to 

 nauseousness, but in the compact Halichondrise there is little of 

 it, and in the firm, inelastic, and calcareous Grantise it appears 

 to be entirely wanting." u It has an unctuous feel, emits a fishy 

 odor when burnt, leaves a thin film or membrane when evaporat- 

 ed, and appears to the naked eye transparent, colorless, and 

 homogeneous, like the colorless part of an egg ; but when a drop 

 of it is examined on a plate of glass, under the microscope, it 

 appears entirely composed of very minute, transparent, spheri- 

 cal or ovate granules, like monades, with some moisture. These 



