40 



INVERTEBRATES. SPONGES 



beautiful in (Icsigu. Sponges range in size from the tiny Grantia of the 

 New England coast to the gigantic "Neptune's goblets" 

 found in the eastern seas. This alcove contains certain 

 specimens whose tissue is represented in wax tinted to 

 natural 



Alcove 2 

 Sponges 



^P 



^^ 







M^ 



^l^i" 



w^^^^_ 





r^ 





1^-** '»lij 



1^^ 



ill 



mi 



P^ 



^W^ 



^ 



\^ 





■im ■■*¥-. 



/ 



V. 



T*^ 





show the 

 coloring of sponges, 

 which varies from 

 the bleached yel- 

 lowish color com- 

 monly seen to deep 

 l)ro\m or black, or 

 yellow and red, in 

 varying shades. 



In Alcove 3 are 

 shown coral ani- 

 mals and their re- 

 latives: pi ant like 

 hydroids which 

 often are mistaken 



fnr sp«i Tnn«« hiit European commercial sponge comparable with the Florida yel- 



iUi nt-ct iiius.>, iJUt ,^^ sponge or "Hardhead." The sponge industry in both the 



which reallv are a Mediterranean and the Bahama region is almost destroyed by 



• careless methods, and conservation must be practiced here as in 



series of DoIvDS other of the world's resources. 



living in a colony; jellyfishes with their umbrella-shaped bodies and long, 

 streaming tentacles; brilliant colored sea anemones, sea 

 fans and sea i)lumes; the magenta colored organ-pipe 

 coral, the stony corals, and the i^recious coral of commerce. 

 Coral poly])s, mistakenly called "coral insects," are the animals that 

 build up the coral reefs. In front of the window is a life-size model 

 in glass of the beautiful Portuguese Man-of-War. This organism is 

 really a colony of many polyp individuals attached to one another, 

 and specialized for various functions. 



The best known species in this group include the tape-worms, 

 whose development and structure are shown by models in 

 the central case and in the third section of the left- 

 hand alcove case. These are jiarasitic flatworms. The 

 less familiar free-living fiatworms, which inhal)it both salt and fresh 

 water, are showii by enlarged models in the right-hand alcove case 

 and illustrate well the great diversity of color and detail in this group. 

 The Rounthvorms are also parasitic, since they live in the digestive 

 canal of mammals. The most familiar is the common roundworm 

 or stomach worm, Aficaris, of which an enlarged model is 

 exhibited, showing the internal structure. 



[Note for teachers and students,— i^ome of the models 



Alcove 3 

 Polyps 



Alcove 4 

 Fiatworms 



Alcove 5 

 Roundworms 



