SECT. n. SPONGES. 57 



Eupert Jones to range from the Trias to the present 

 epoch.' 2 



The Carpenteria found in the Indian seas forms a 

 link between the Foraminifera and Sponges. The shell 

 is a minute cone adhering to the surface of corals and 

 shells, by its wide base which spreads in broad lobes. 

 Double-walled chambers and canals form a spiral within 

 it, and are filled with a spongy sarcode of a more con- 

 sistent texture than the sarcode of the Foraminifera, 

 which in the larger chambers is supported by siliceous 

 spicules similar to those which form the skeletons in 

 sponges. 



CLASS HE. SPONGES. 



According to the observations of Mr. Carter, sponges 

 begin their lives as solitary Amcebse which grow by 

 multiplication into masses, and assume endless forms 

 according to the species ; turbinate, bell-shaped, like a 

 vase, a crater, a fan, flat, foliaceous and lobed or 

 branching and racrusting the surface of stones. All 

 the Amoebae are so connected as to form one compound 

 animal. The whole substance of a sponge is permeated 

 by innumerable tubes which begin in small pores on the 

 surface, and continually unite with one another as they 

 proceed in their devious course to form a system of canals 

 increasing in diameter and ending in wide openings 

 called oscula, on the opposite side of the mass. Currents 

 of water enter through the pores on the surface, and 

 bring minute portions of food which are seized upon by 

 a vast multitude of Amoebae with long cilia which form 

 the walls of the tubes and canals ; and after they have 



2 The discovery of Eozoon and the minute details of its structure are 

 published in the Intellectual Observer for May 1865. Also the ' Laurentian 

 Eocks of Canada,' a small work, contains articles by various authors on the 

 occurrence, structure, and mineralogy of certain organic remains of these 

 rocks. 



