30G Mr. H. J. Carter on the Species, Structure, and Animality 



fluid; afterwards these arc parcelled out into spherical trans- 

 parent cells, equal in size and very numerous ; what becomes of 

 them then I cannot say ; but I have often observed in the reti- 

 culated structure of the dried Spongilla, a group of the spicula 

 of the seed-like bodies, thrown together in an irregular manner, 

 and 1 would infer from it, that, when the young Spongilla; are 

 sufficiently advanced to be capable of supporting an independent 

 existence, the seed-like body containing them is burst, and all 

 traces of it disappear, except the group of spicula mentioned ; — 

 and, for the young Spongillse, it appears to me that, some time 

 after they have been liberated, they become stationary, and pass- 

 ing into the form of a seed-like body, ultimately end in being 

 the reproductive sacs of their own species. 



Most of these seed-like bodies, although they have been ex- 

 posed in a piece of sponge to the direct rays of a tropical sun for 

 a whole year, on a black diy rock, will, on being cut open, pre- 

 sent a fresh-looking, yellow, transparent, viscid granular matter 

 in their cavities, not unlike the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. Tlicy 

 do not appear to possess in themselves any power of locomotion, 

 and their being transported from place to place, or their adhering 

 to the perpendicular or inclined surfaces of bodies, may depend 

 upon the presence of one or more of the little animals I am 

 about to describe. 



Animality. — As to the animality of the Freshwater Sponge, I 

 think there can be no doubt whatever. Look, for instance, at a 

 ragged portion of it, torn off with a needle (under a magnifying 

 glass of one-tenth of an inch focus), and it will be seen gradually 

 to assume a spheroidal form ; and if there be a spiculum near, 

 it will embrace it within its substance ; it may be seen even to 

 approach it, and as it were spit itself upon it : still watch it, and 

 it may bear away the spiculum; and then regard its circum- 

 ference, and on it will be observed little papillse, which gradually 

 vary their fonn, extending and retracting themselves, until one 

 of them may be seen to detach itself from the parent mass and 

 go off to another object. This little animal, one of the group 

 which it has left, may remain stationary on the second object, or 

 descend to the watch-glass, assuming in its progress all forms 

 that can be imagined, spheroidal or polygonal, while every point 

 of its body appears capable of extending itself into a tubular at- 

 tenuated prolongation. When dead and dry on the watch-glass, 

 it is sometimes transparent, sometimes filled or surrounded by 

 granular bodies, and though frequently irregular in shape, its 

 natural form appears to approach nearest to that of a Florence 

 flask, sometimes more, sometimes less globular; it is then (though 

 its size varies with its age) about the one-thousandtli part of an 

 inch in diameter, not including the elongated portion, which in 



