236 Thirty-Third Annual Meeting 
injured by reasonable exposure to the air. The writer has kept 
specimens of the sheepswool sponge, out of water, during the 
winter months for a period of seventy-two hours without mater- 
ial impairment of the vitality of the cuttings made from them, 
the only precaution observed being to keep the specimens in 
moist hay in a shady place. 
The cuttings are easily made with a large sharp knife. The 
sponge of the markets is merely the supporting skeleton and in 
life most of its interstices are filled with a fleshy pulp, containing 
cavernous canals communicating with the exterior by means of 
pores. The surface is covered with a dark, almost black skin and 
the fresh sponge looks and cuts not unlike a beef’s liver. The 
chief problem confronting the experimenter was to find some 
ready means of attaching the cuttings to a durable support, capa- 
ble of resisting the chemical action of sea water and the ravages 
of the teredo and other animals having similar destructive habits 
and which at the same time is without injurious effect upon the 
sponges. 
During the first season the cuttings were attached to stakes 
and rectangular frames laid on the bottom, vertical stakes, 
pieces of coral rock, and copper wires stretched on the bottom or 
festooned between stakes. Some of the cuttings were threaded 
on the copper supporting wires and others were fastened to them 
by means of shorter lengths of lighter wire, with the expectation 
that the sponge would eventually encompass its support. 
About six weeks after the plants were made, it was found 
that ninety-five per cent had healed and were lying under ap- 
parently healthy conditions but by November 1901, seven or 
eight months later, most of them had died and some of the wires 
had been stolen. It was evident that the choice of materials 
and localities had been unfortunate. The chemical action of 
the sea water on the copper resulted in the production of copper 
salts injurious to the sponges and even the cuttings which re- 
mained in situ were dead around the wire. The cuttings placed 
on the bottom had become covered with silt and vegetable 
growths and practically all of them were either killed or lost. 
During the following winter of 1901-02, advantage was taken 
of the experience gained from the failure of the previous year 
and in addition to Biscayne Bay and Sugar Loaf Key, Anclote 

