48 THE SPONGE. 



fresh-water sponges are really within the pale of the 

 vegetable kingdom. But a different conclusion has 

 been arrived at, we think most justly, in reference 

 to the sponges that are marine. Many inhabit the 

 shores of the ocean between tide marks, preferring a 

 site near the low ebb, where, however, they are daily 

 covered with the water, and alternately left ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere. Others, of a fibrous or 

 fleshy texture, are the inhabitants of deeper water, 

 and are never left uncovered. When, however, 

 they are exposed, from their locality, to an unusually 

 great agitation of the sea, they are said to have a 

 structure proportionally dense and compact. In 

 the intertropical latitudes they display gigantic 

 forms, and strange or grotesque figures ; in the 

 colder latitudes, they are smaller, and of firmer and 

 more rigid texture. They often grow in places which 

 the returning tide leaves dry ; but their congenial 

 abode is in sheltered and tranquil spots, in caves 

 and fissures of rocks, where the water, never ruffled 

 by the storm, is " deeply, darkly, beautifully, blue." 

 Fixed, plant-like, to the rock, they festoon the 

 deep sea caves ; they line the walls of submarine 

 grottoes, and hang as grotesque ornaments from the 

 roof ; some, like inverted goblets, aptly termed 

 " Neptune's drinking cups ;" some, like fans, some, 

 like globes, and others, like intertwined branches of 

 uncouth growth. 



In the Mediterranean Sea, about the islands of the 

 Archipelago, sponge is found adhering to the rocks, 



