A NEW METHOD BY WHICH SPONGES MAY BE AR- 
TIFICIALLY REARED. 1 
DR. H. V. WILSON 
I have found in the course of an investigation carried on for 
the Bureau of Fisheries that silicious sponges when kept in 
confinement under proper conditions degenerate, giving rise 
to small masses of undifferentiated tissue which in their turn 
are able to grow and differentiate into perfect sponges. The 
investigation has been prosecuted during the past three sum- 
mers’at the Beaufort Laboratory. While the degeneration with 
the formation of the indifferent masses has been observed in 
several species, it is only in one species, a Stylotella, that the 
process as a whole has been worked out. 
This sponge, which is exceedingly abundant in Beaufort 
Harbor, is a fleshy monactinellid commonly reaching a thick- 
ness and height of 10-12 cm. Conical processes with termin- 
al oscula project upwards from the lower body. With this 
species, which is a light-loving form, I have obtained the 
best results when outside aquaria, either concrete aquaria or 
tubs, were used. The method of treatment is briefly this: 
Into a tub about 60 cm. by 30 cm. and covered with glass, a 
half dozen sponges, freed as far as possible from live oysters 
and crabs, are put. They are raised from the bottom on 
bricks. The tub is emptied, filled and flushed for some minutes 
three times in every twenty-four hours. Direct rays of the 
1 lPublished with the permission of Hon. Geo. M. Bowers, U. S. Com- 
misioner of Fisheries. 
Reprinted from Science, N. S., Yol. XXV. , No. 649, Pages 912-915, 
June 7, 1907, 
