D. Too flat . — Flatness and associated faults are considered to 

 be important only from the standpoint of appearance unless the irreg- 

 ularities in shape are so extreme as to cause breakage of the sponge 

 in use» Since these shape faults are the most important in classi- 

 fying the sponge as a Cut rather than as a more valuable Form (other 

 than an obvious product of cutting), they may have been relatively 

 more important in the past trade than what the writer has allowed 



in the present demerit system, but the data accumulated in this study 

 do not justify larger demerits. As a rough guide to the inspector, 

 any sponge less than half as high as its radius in the horizontal 

 plane would receive close to 1^0 demerits. 



E. Too long .— As distinguished from Fault D, a sponge can be 

 narrow — or too long — as well as being too flat. If one horizontal 

 diameter is more than twice the other, a full $0 points should be 

 deducted. 



F. Too tall . — Cuts made in the plane vertical to the base or 

 root of the sponge— this being the usual method of cutting— -often 

 cause a sponge to be tall enough to be unattractive. Grass sponges 

 are almost invariably cut this way, owing to the fact that the orig- 

 inal form is vase-shaped and awkward to use. Some Cuban Wool sponges 

 appear to grow quite tall. A full 100 points should be taken off far 

 heights more than twice the length of the longest horizontal diameter. 



G. Volcanoes . — Almost all types of sponges show a variation 

 occasionally toward projecting tissue around the channels or oscules. 

 The trade appears to downgrade such sponges fairly severely, and 

 therefore it is surprising that the projections are not trimmed. 

 Volcanoes usually are accompanied by a weak structure, but they re- 

 ceive demerits here merely because of poor appearance. Volcanoes 

 more than 1/2 inch high would receive a full 100 demerits, since 

 they rarely occur with single holes. 



H. Side or top valleys or branches . — Except in the Grass and 

 the Florida Yellow sponges, side or top valleys or branches usually 

 are trimmed away. Projections greater than an inch should receive a 

 full 150 demerits if the v a lleys are quite sharp, since breakage 

 occurs easily at these lines. 



I. No bottom webbing o — Fortunately for eventual acceptance of 

 sponges cut to leave the bottoms to grow again, the fault of no 

 bottom webbing does not receive much downgrading in the trade. Lack 

 of bottom webbing, however, can cause a quick breakup of the sponge 

 in use. If it were not for advocating the leaving of the root to 

 grow again, the writer would recommend a more drastic penalty than 

 100 demerits for a complete lack of bottom webbing. 



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