220 DR. J. MURIE ON STEERE'S SPONGE, 



a few loose packages only being opened to gratify the curiosity of friends. Mere accident 

 in conversation led me to a sight of a sponge the subject of the present communication. 



Its appearance and history in a trice convinced me of its rarity, and I advised the 

 owner to take advantage of the extensive collection at the British Museum, and after 

 comparison &c. to describe the specimen. If ultimately deposited in the distant Michigan 

 Museum, the chances were its value and uniqueness might temporarily be lost sight of 

 among the plethora of his collections, aud a long while elapse ere opportunity offered to 

 bring it before the scientific public. Neither time nor indeed inclination to a special 

 study of the group rendered Professor Steere desirous thereupon to enter on the task ; 

 but still, knowing the interest attached to the object, he requested my drawing out a 

 notice of it for publication. This could have been little else than a mere superficial 

 survey had he not given me possession of the tempting specimen for a brief period, to 

 facilitate closer inspection and to procure a photograph of it. He still more generously 

 gave me a portion, quite enough for a thorough examination of its microscopic structure, 

 as the accompanying illustrations bear Avitness. 



The following is Professor Steere' s verbal account to me of how and where the sponge 

 was obtained. When in the Philippines, 1875, his attention one day was called to what 

 at first sight he deemed to be a branching coral, hanging in the sun near one of the 

 native dwellings. On purchasing it, he learned from the fisherman, its first possessor, 

 that it had accidentally been dragged up by his hooks * from a depth of what he supposed 

 to be 400 to GOO feet, *-. e. roughly, then, between 70 and 100 fathoms. The locality where 

 originally obtained is the narrow deep channel between the strip-like and parallel islands 

 •of Negros and Zebu. This channel is said to be some 100 miles long, and varies from 

 2 to 3 miles in breadth. The water is comparatively still, or with only a slightly percep- 

 tible current, never, generally speaking, being boisterous. This condition in the main 

 results from the construction of the channel, which to some extent is land-locked, as 

 reference to a chart of the district shows. 



As regards the nature of the sea-bottom, Professor Steere believes it to be sandy. As 

 to the geological aspect of the surrounding country, according to him the island of Zebu 

 is chiefly characterized by a limestone formation ; but the larger island of Negros bears 

 apparently marks of volcanic origin. 



He further informed me that the Buplectella and other peculiar sponges hitherto 



* Dr. Meyer (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 1874, vol. xiii. p. 67) has drawn attention to the mode of fishing for 

 sponges adopted by the natives of the Philippines. A number of small hooks are fixed to a light framework, and this, 

 sunk by a stone, is dragged on the bottom in depths quite 50 fathoms or more, and the hooks catch the objects as the 

 boat drives with the current. A confirmation of this has been published by one of the staff of the ' Challenger ' 

 (the ' Times,' 30th April, 1875, and quoted by Bowerbank, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 506). But see also Mr. T. J. Moore's 

 letter to the late Dr. J. E. Gray on the mode of dragging for the " Regadera " (Euplectella) with a bamboo and nails 

 at Talisay, in the island of Cebu, illustrated (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1869, vol. hi. p. 196). It agrees substantially with 

 what Professor Steere relates of how the fisherman obtained his specimen of sponge. In many of the Euplectellas sent to 

 this country, ragged holes or other slight injuries to the spicular framework indicate where j.t has been caught by 

 the fisherman's hooks. Since this paper was read, I have myself seen in Edinburgh one of the fishing implements in 

 question, brought home by the officers of the 'Challenger' Expedition; and I may state, moreover, that a capital 

 drawing representing a similar native instrument was exhibited at one of the meetings of the Linnean Society by 

 Capt. Chimmo, F.L.S. 



