1 14 
THE OCEAN WOULD. 
contractile cellules have tlieir birth ; then the spicuhe ; and when the? 
are finally covered with the vibratile oils, aided by them these larv® °* 
ovoid form swim, or rather glide, through the water. The species ot 
infusoria born of the sponge resemble the larvae of various polyp eS ^ 
the moment they issue from the egg. “ They soon attach themselves t0 
some foreign body,” says Mr. Milne Edwards, “ and become henceforth 
immovable ; no longer giving signs either of sensibility or of contra^' 
ability, while in their enlargement they arc completely transformed 
The gelatinous substance of their bodies is channeled and riddl^J 
with holes — the fibrous framework is completed — the sponge is formed- 
We may add, however, that other zoologists, and among tb^ 
MM. Paul Gervais and Yan Beneden, take a different view of the ^ 
velopment of the sponges, and Dr. Johnston omits them altogeth 6 * 
from his great work on “ British Zoophytes.” “ If they are not the V r<r 
duction of polypi,” he says, “ the zoologist who retains them in ^ 
province must contend that they are individually animals, an opinion 
which I cannot assent, seeing that they have no animal structure ° r 
individual organs, and exhibit not one function usually supposed to 1,0 
characteristic of the animal kingdom.” Gervais and Yan Beneden c° c ’ 
sider, as Milne Edwards does, that the embryos are at first movm e ' 
then fixed, many of them uniting together, and melting, as it were, n * t0 
one common colony, which become a sponge, such as we see it. ^ 
isolated embryo might also, by throwing out germs, produce a sim^H 
colony, which would thus become a product of agamous generati° s ‘ 
Thus it appears that Science is far from being settled in its view 8 
to the organization and development of these obscure and comp^ 
formations ; nor is it more advanced in its knowledge of the dura ** 011 
of life and the quickness of growth in sponges. It is agreed, howe? et ’ 
on one point namely, that the sponge-fisher may return to the sa 1110 
fishing-ground after three years from the last fishing. At the preset 
time sponge-fishing takes place principally in the Grecian Archipe^ 
and the Syrian littoral. The Greeks and Syrians sell the product 0 
their fishing to the Western nations, and the trade has been immense 1 ^ 
extended in recent times, when the sponge has become an aim 0 ®* 
necessary adjunct of the toilet as wnll as the stable, and in other cle ^ 
ing operations. 
Fishing usually commences towards the beginning of June on t j * 0 
coast of Syria, and finishes at the end of October. But the J 
