4 FAIRY LAND AMONG THE SPONGES. 



vain of their knowledge, are humiliated by their 

 ignorance. Of all created beings the highest arch- 

 angel must be the most humble, because he knows 

 the most. 



We do not even know the distinctive marks which 

 separate animal from vegetable life. Locomotion was 

 for many years accepted as the proof of animal life, and 

 the volvoces which roll ceaselessly through the Avater, 

 and the diatoms which dart about as swiftly as the 

 whirling beetles, and avoid collision with equal dex- 

 terity, were ranked among the animals. 



Now, however, all these minute beings have been 

 proved to belong to the simplest forms of vegetable life, 

 and the Locomotive Theory had to be abandoned. 



Among the beings which occupy the border-land be- 

 tween the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the SPONGES 

 have of late years started into prominence. Eelegated at 

 first to the vegetable, but now conclusively proved to 

 belong to the animal kingdom, the sponges are full of 

 interest to the student of zoology. 



With the sponge of commerce we are all familiar 

 enough, and it is scarcely necessary to state that it con- 

 sists of the horny skeleton alone, the whole of the 

 organic matter having been removed. This organic 

 matter is apparently nothing but a mere wash or film of 

 gelatinous substance covering every filament of the 

 skeleton ; but when carefully examined it presents a 

 most remarkable mixture of simplicity and complica- 

 tion. 



