ON SPONGES IN WATERWORKS. 973 



57. Sponges in Waterworks. Bj W. N. Paeker, Ph.D., 

 F.Z.S., Professor of Zoology, University College, 

 Cardiff. 



[Received September 17, 1913 ; Read November 11, 1913.] 



Index. Pages 



Occurrence in Cardiff Waterworks and elsewhere ... 973,974 



Ethology 974,975 



Reproduction 975,976 



Methods of treatment adopted 976 



Some three or four years ago I received through my colleague, 

 Ur. Scholberg, some specimens of a branched, yellowish-brown 

 organism which had been found growing in some of the pipes 

 at the Cardiff Waterworks, and which proved to be very fine 

 examples of Spongilla lacustris. Subsequently I learnt that 

 there had been an extensive growth of this sponge in the pipes 

 .leading to one of the series of filter-beds, which had caused much 

 trouble and difficulty; and that, although the growth had 

 apparently disappeared for a time after treatment with sulphate 

 of copper, it, as I expected, soon appeared again, and became as 

 flourishing as ever. In the summer of 1911 the growth was so 

 extensive as to cause anxiety, not only as regards reducing the 

 flow in the pipes, but also on account of the unpleasant odour 

 which had been noticed in the water, due doubtless to the 

 living sponge as well as to its decomposition. In December 

 of the same year I was requested by the Waterworks Engineer, 

 Mr. C. H. Priestley, to report on the matter to the Waterworks 

 Committee ; and now that the treatment I subsequently pro- 

 posed has — at any rate for the present — been successful, I have 

 the permission of the Committee to publish an account of our 

 experiences. I should like to express my indebtedness to 

 Mr. Priestley and his stafli" for their cooperation and for giving 

 me eveiy facility in prosecuting the enquiry ; I have also to 

 thank Dj-. Kemna, of Antwerp, Dr. Harmer, Mr. Kirkpatrick, 

 and Professor Minchin for valuable information given at the 

 beginning of the investigation. 



Although sponges of various species have been recoi^ded at 

 numerous other Waterworks *, they do not appear to have been 

 the chief source of trouble, as at OaTdiff". 



The interesting subject of the fauna of Waterworks has quite 

 recently been so fully dealt with by Dr. Harmer in these 

 "Proceedings" (1913, p. 426), that it is unnecessary for me 



* B.g. at Boston, Mass. (Howerbank. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, & Potts, Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Philadelphia, 1881, 1882, and 1887) ; Hamburg (Kraepelin, Abh. Naturwi-ss. 

 Ver. Hamburg, 1886) ; Torquay (Chapman, " Animal Growths in Water-pipes," 

 Transactions of the Institute of Water Engineers, 1913, & Kirkpatrick — see Harmer, 

 P. Z. S. 1913, p. 436) ; and Aberdeen (Kirkpatrick, loc. cit. p. 439). 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1913, ^'o. LXV. 65 



