CHAPTER II. 



SPONGE AND THE SPONGE FISHERIES. 



Description of sponges — Two scientific divisions, common and fine — Com- 

 mercial grades — Distribution of sponges — Cup-shaped and fistular sponges 

 — American sponge fisheries — Mode of procuring and cleaning them. 



Sponge is a substance with which almost every one is 

 familiar, as there are but few families or individuals living 

 in civilized communities who do not find occasion to use it 

 for a great variety of purposes. The article is so very 

 useful that a large number of inconveniences would arise if 

 it could not be obtained. What would the surgeon do ? 

 what the traveller ? what the housekeeper ? And yet most 

 of those who use sponges in an indefinite variety of ways 

 all their lives never stop to consider how they are formed, 

 whether they are plants or animals, or what are their 

 history and habits. 



Sponges consist of a framework or skeleton, coated 

 with gelatinous matter, and forming a non-irritable mass, 

 which is connected internally with canals of various sizes. 

 The ova are very numerous, and present in appearance the 

 form of irregular-shaped granules, derived from the gela- 

 tinous matter, which grow into ciliated germs, and, falling 

 at maturity into the small canals, are then expelled by 

 the orifices. When alive, the body is covered by a gela- 



