234 Thirty-Third Annual Meeting 
with less trouble by means of independent cuttings. In each 
case the result depends to some extent upon the character of the 
original sponge from which the cutting is derived, but apparently 
to a greater degree upon the nature of the environment to which 
the cutting is exposed during its subsequent growth. 
It is doubtful if the breeding of sponges from the egg will 
become of much value as a general method, as it is likely to prove 
altogether too costly, complex and difficult to be utilized by the 
practical sponge grower. To the scientific experimenter and the 
worker in the laboratory, it is comparatively easy to raise a few 
hundred or a few thousand sponge larvae beyond the stage of 
fixation, but the difficulty will come in carrying the young 
sponges to further development in vastly increased numbers 
under conditions which will yield a financial profit. It is possi- 
ble, however, that a superior variety of sponges may be devel- 
oped by selective breeding from the egg and that the individuals 
so produced may be used to perpetuate the desirable qualities by 
cuttings. To the writer this seems to be the chief practical 
utility of sexual sponge breeding, but while this is merely a pos- 
sibility, there is on the other hand the demonstrated fact that the 
same end may be at least in a measure produced by sponge cut- 
tings grown under the influence of a selected environment. 
The method of propagation by cuttings is the one which has 
to the present time received the attention of those who have at- 
tempted to solve in a practical way the problems of sponge cul- 
ture. Prior to the work begun by the Bureau of Fisheries, 
experiments had been carried on in the Adriatic and on the 
Florida coast near Key West and in Biscayne Bay. In the Adri- 
atic the work was begun in 1863 and continued until 1872 when 
it was abandoned owing to the antagonism of the inhabitants 
of the neighborhood, who destroyed and plundered the experi- 
mental plant. The experiment was the outcome of a suggestion 
by Prof. O. Schmidt and was begun under the joimt auspices of 
the Austrian Government and certain merchants of Triest. In 
general the method of procedure was to cut the sponges into 
pieces of about one inch cube, perforate them with a stiletto or 
trepan according to circumstances and fasten them by means of 
pegs to stones, boards and more or less simple structures de- 
signed for their support. These cuttings grew to two-thirds 
