therefore should receive demerits. The initial riffling by the in- 

 spector to uncover holes and tears will reveal the percentage of sur- 

 face webbing. (Bottom webbing is covered under I in Major Faults.) 



N « Surface, roller type; no nap « — Rollers rarely are encounter- 

 ed in the trade, owing either to the fact that they are considered 

 practically worthless or to the possibility that the conditions that 

 caused them have improved. One reported source is a sponge that is 

 lost by the collector before it has been exposed to air long enough 

 to be killed. The dropped sponge continues to live, but it rolls with 

 the currents on the floor of the ocean and acquires the characteristic 

 lack of surface fibers and equally characteristic bottom structure over 

 the entire sponge. The presence of this bottom structure is a minor 

 item, as it can be argued that such a sponge should bring a premium, 

 owing to its greater resistance to wear. It should be given a fault 

 rating, however, to prevent the uninformed buyer from being sold an 

 item that is reputedly off grade. 



0. Surface, inshore type, feathery .— 'Feathery structure is an- 

 other case of a property that could be attractive to some buyers. The 

 Hudson Grass sponge sometimes brings a higher price than does an An- 

 clote sponge, owing to a feathery or hairy structure. This structure 

 makes a softer sponge of a type of sponge that usually is too stiff. 

 An arbitrary plus 50 points therefore are given to a typical Hudson 

 Grass sponge for this property. (Note: In the system of grading rec- 

 ommended in this report, to give plus !?0 points is actually to subtract 

 £0 demerits.) On the other hand, the Inshore Sheepswool type is most 

 easily distinguished from the Rock Island type by means of this feath- 

 ery structure, which often is accompanied by other less desirable 

 properties. Points can be taken off in proportion to the percentage 

 of surface covered by such feathery structure and to the length of such 

 fibers, which may reach 1/2 inch. The feathers may wear away rapidly 

 and therefore deserve demerits aside from other accompanying undesir- 

 able properties. 



P. Red bottom or body . — If wear tests had proved to be more 

 significant, it was planned to check one possible reason for the down- 

 grading of sponges that appear to have been discolored by a deposi- 

 tion of iron oxides. No consistent trend to poor properties, however, 

 appeared to accompany such discoloration. Rock Island sponges rarely 

 are so colored. The discoloration therefore, at one time, may have 

 served as a quick check as to type. In the author's examinations, 

 Florida Yellow sponges were quite consistent in the degree of such 

 redness and accordingly received a uniform demerit of 100 points. 

 Using this standard color and demerit as a guide, the inspector can 

 estimate the degree of discoloration, with 200 demerits as a maximum 

 to be applied. As in A, the use of a scientific color designation 

 would depend on a balance of the cost of the research needed to de- 

 velop the designation versus the benefit to be derived. 



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