CHAPTER IV 

 SPONGES 



QPONGES are somewhat different from the fans 

 O and corals, though of course like them in being 

 the abiding places of animal colonies of tiny 

 things. 



Fans, feathers, and ferns are of various colours 

 blue, purple, yellow, and grey of many shades. 

 Corals are nearly all yellow, but the staghorn 

 type of coral is often pale mauve, and even 

 pink. 



The sponges that with us dwell in the bathroom 

 are all black when alive. They grow like plants 

 on the bottom of the sea, and it is possible to grow 

 them by cutting them in pieces and planting them 

 in the mud at the bottom of the sea. The sponge 

 is the skeleton which is covered by a gelatinous 

 film of flesh. When torn up with the "grains" or 

 prong used for the purpose which is attached to a 

 long pole, they die, and are kept in kraals until 

 the fleshy material is rotten. The sponges are 

 then beaten until it is all washed out, and they 



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