SPONGES 



393 



-vase-like, interlaced, white, flinty skeleton, which grows to a length of about a 

 foot, is known to most persons. A second species, E. oweni, from the seas of Japan, 

 differs by the vase being straight instead of gracefully curved. Very curious, too, 

 -are the beautiful glass-rope sponges of the genus Hyalonema, which are typically 

 Japanese, although also widely distributed in the southern oceans. Intermediate 

 between the glassy and the horny groups is the mermaid's glove (Chalina ocellata), 

 which has a fibrous as well as a flinty skeleton, and is from time to time washed 

 .ashore on the English coasts. A striking species in the horny group is the great 



NEPTUNE'S CUP SPONGE. 



Neptune's cup (Poteritim neptuni), which resembles a vase in shape, and may 

 stand as much as a yard in height. The typical representatives of the horny 

 group are, however, the various species used for domestic purposes, such as the 

 ordinary bath-sponge, Spongia officinalis, the Turkey sponge, S. o. molhssima, 

 and the coarser type known as the horse or bath sponge, Hippospongia equina. 

 All these are natives of the warmer seas to the north of the equator, but a number 

 of kinds of sponges from the southern seas are gradually coming into use for 

 domestic and other purposes. 



From among a host of other types, reference may be made to Murrayona 

 phanolepis, an interesting type of sponge from Christmas Island, in the Indian 



