28 INTERTEBRATES. SPONGES 
size from the tiny Grantia of the New England coast to the gigantic 
Alcove? ‘‘Neptune’s goblets’? found in the eastern seas. This 
Sponges 
alcove contains certain specimens whose tissue is repre- 
sented in wax tint- 
ed to show the nat- 
ural coloring of 
sponges, which 
varies from the 
bleached yellowish 
color commonly 
seen to deep brown 
or black, or yellow 
and red, in varying 
shades. 
In Alcove 3 are 
shown coral ani- 
mals and __ their 
relatives: plantlike 
European commercial sponge comparable with the Florida yel- hydroids W h i Cc h 
low sponge or ‘‘Hardhead.”’ The sponge industry in both the ei 4 
Mediterranean and the Bahama region is almost destroyed by o{tten are mistaken 
careless methods, and conservation must be practised here as in 2 
other of the world’s resources. for sea moss, but 
which really are a series of polyps living in a colony; jellyfishes with their 
umbrella-shaped bodies and long, streaming tentacles; 
Alcove 3 
Polyps brilliant colored sea anemones, sea fans and sea plumes; 
the magenta colored organ-pipe coral, the stony corals, 
and the precious coral of commerce. Coral polyps, 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 individ- 
als 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 
Alcove 4 
Minteotar the central case and in the third section of the left- 
hand aleove case. These are parasite flatworms. The 
less familiar free-living flatworms, which inhabit both salt and fresh 
water, are shown on an enlarged scale by models in the right-hand alcove 
case and illustrate well the great diversity of color and detail in this 
group. 
The Roundworms are also parasitic, since they live in 
Alcove 5 ude Nie : ee. Te ey 
Roundworms the digestive canal of mammals. The most familiar is the 
common roundworm or stomach worm, Ascaris, of which 
an enlarged scale model is exhibited, showing the internal structure. 
