466 SPONGES. 



Among these numerous small islands of the Korean 

 Archipelago, Sponges are very plentiful, and in some 

 spots may be collected in almost any quantity. They 

 are also easily studied here in a living state. Apathetic 

 and immovable, Sponges may be said hardly to exist ; 

 nourished by permeating canals, which pervade in every 

 direction their porose bodies, they have properties but no 

 instincts, attributes but no sensations. Their living and 

 gelatinous crusts show no vital energies, save the ceaseless 

 vibration of innumerable cilia, that properly belong to 

 animal existence. Mechanically the surrounding fluid 

 moves in through myriads of pores and larger vents, and 

 then they grow rooted and immovable, and gradually as- 

 sume their specific forms and full dimensions. Soft and 

 delicate, they love the deep still waters of the tropic seas, 

 where, in obscure recesses, they propagate, and grow, and 

 die. Among the islands I enumerated ten or twelve well 

 marked species which are most likely new. Some were 

 flat, and split into numerous riband-like branches, others 

 were round and digitated, others filiform, elongated and 

 cylindrical, while some were in the form of hollow tubes; 

 others form delicate lace-like aggregate cells, others wide 

 cancellated infundibuliform cups. Some again have 

 broad scalloped rounded leaves, and others dense white 

 branch-like foliations, some are hard and horny, some 

 quite solid with calcareous spicula, and others loose, light, 

 and very expansible. 



Various singular species of the fleshy -lobed Sarco- 

 phyta and handsomely coloured varieties of Tubastrtea, 

 with numerous other showy-looking Corallines were 

 common on all the beaches. 



Leaving Hong-Kong on the 1st of April, we touched 



