1 82 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



diately placed in boxes, through which a stream of sea 

 water was constantly made to flow, the animal matter being, 

 of course, left on them, and protected from injury. These 

 sponges arrived at Marseilles on the i/th of June; thence 

 they were taken to Toulon and the islands of Hyeres, 

 where stone troughs, with five sponges in each, were sunk 

 in different places. 



During the past few years, Dr. Oscar Schmidt, Professor 

 of Zoology at the University of Gratz, has employed 

 several weeks of the early summer in artificially producing 

 and rearing the bath sponge. His labours have met with 

 such success that his system has been adopted by the 

 Austrian Government, and is now carried on on the coast 

 of Dalmatia. 



It has for some time been a well-known fact that several 

 families of zoophytes have such great powers of reproduc- 

 tion, that a portion of one will grow and form on an entire 

 new body. This property has been taken advantage of by 

 Dr. Schmidt, his process being to cut the sponge into 

 pieces, fasten each portion to a pile, and immerse it in the 

 sea. The pieces then grow, and eventually from each one 

 a spherical sponge is obtained. According to the estimates 

 of Dr. Schmidt, a small piece of sponge at the end of three 

 years will represent a value of ^d. The total cost of raising 

 4000 sponges, including the interest on the expended 

 capital for three years, is estimated at 8 8s., and the 

 income at about 16, leaving therefore a net profit of 

 nearly 8. There is no doubt but that the practice of this 

 branch of industry will be the means of considerable 

 benefit to the inhabitants of the Idrian and Dalmatian 

 coasts. 



