THE ROSSELLA VELATA. 21 



Take a number of the longest and finest entomological 

 pins, draw a circle of about one-third of an inch in 

 diameter on a piece of soft leather, and thrust the pins 

 closely together up to their heads through the circular 

 line. Pass an elastic band round them, at about half 

 an inch from the leather, and they will form a double 

 cone, the pins of the lower cone being closely set 

 together, and those of the upper cone diverging at their 

 points. Suppose that the leather were completely 

 covered with similar circles, all set full of pins, and then 

 stretched over a swan's egg, the appearance would almost 

 precisely resemble that of the Rossella. 



The points of the radiating pins would interlace with 

 each other, so as to give a sort of uncertain filmy out- 

 line. In the Eossella, the glass threads are so fine and 

 so translucent that their intermingling ends seem to 

 form a sort of cloudy veil over the drab surface, thus 

 earning for the sponge the appropriate name of velata, 

 or "veiled." 



Anchored in mud by their glittering cables, these 

 wonderful beings have come from the ocean depths as if 

 to show the extent of man's ignorance. Not long ago, 

 no theory was held to be more firmly established than 

 that of the absence of life in the depths of the sea. In 

 an arctic temperature, in black darkness, under the 

 terrific pressure of superincumbent water, plus that of 

 the atmosphere above it, vegetation, and consequently 

 animal life, was held to be impossible. All life was said 

 to disappear beyond a certain depth from the surface ; 



