HALF AN HOUR WITH SPONGES. 



And now a word 

 or two respecting 

 our deeper water 

 British sponges. 

 We know nothing, 

 in our northern tem- 

 perate seas, of the 

 large and luxuriant 

 growth of sponges 

 characteristic of 

 warmer seas, of 

 which the great 

 " Neptune's Cup " 

 may be taken as an 

 example. The com- 

 monest and largest 

 of our native 

 sponges is Chalina 

 oculata (Fig. 25), a 

 branching and tree- 

 shaped sponge, often 

 found thrown up on 

 the sands after a 

 storm, which aver- 

 ages about nine 

 inches in length. 

 It is very variously 

 branched, occasion- 

 ally palmate or 

 digitate, with the 



Fig. 25. 



Chalina oculata, 

 nat. size. 



