30G Mr. H. J. Carter on the Species, Structure, and Animality 
fluid; afterwards tliese are parcelled out into spherical trans- 
parent cells^ equal in size and very numerous ; what becomes of 
them then I cannot say ; but I have often observed in the reti- 
culated structure of the dried Spongilla^ a group of the spicula 
of the seed-like bodies, thrown together in an irregular manner, 
and 1 would infer from it, that, when the young Spongillse are 
sufficiently advanced to be capable of supporting an independent 
existence, the seed-like body containing them is burst, and all 
traces of it disappear, except the group of spicula mentioned ; — 
and, for the young Spongillse, it appears to me that, some time 
after they have been liberated, they become stationary, and pass- 
ing into the form of a seed-like body, ultimately end in being 
the reproductive sacs of their own species. 
]\Iost of these seed-like bodies, although they have been ex- 
posed in a piece of sponge to the direct rays of a tropical sun for 
a whole year, on a black dry rock, will, on being cut open, pre- 
sent a fresh-looking, yellow, transparent, viscid granular matter 
in their cavities, not unlike the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. They 
do not appear to possess in themselves any power of locomotion, 
and their being transported from place to place, or their adhering 
to the perpendicular or inclined surfaces of bodies, may depend 
upon the presence of one or more of the little animals I am 
about to describe. 
Animality . — As to the animality of the Freshwater Sponge, I 
think there can be no doubt whatever. Look, for instance, at a 
ragged portion of it, torn off* with a needle (under a magnifying 
glass of one-tenth of an inch focus), and it will be seen gradually 
to assume a spheroidal form ; and if there be a spiculum near, 
it will embrace it within its substance ; it may be seen even to 
approach it, and as it were spit itself upon it : still watch it, and 
it may bear away the spiculum; and then regard its circum- 
ference, and on it will be observed little papillge, which gradually 
vary their form, extending and retracting themselves, until one 
of them may be seen to detach itself from the parent mass and 
go off to another object. This little animal, one of the group 
which it has left, may remain stationary on the second object, or 
descend to the watch-glass, assuming in its progress all forms 
that can be imagined, spheroidal or polygonal, while every point 
of its body aj)pcars capable of extending itself into a tubular at- 
tenuated prolongation. When dead and dry on the watch-glass, 
it is sometimes transparent, sometimes filled or smrounded by 
granular bodies, and though frequently irregular in shape, its 
natural form appears to approach nearest to that of a Florence 
flask, sometimes more, sometimes less globular; it is then (though 
its size varies with its age) about the one-thousandth part of an 
inch in diameter, not including the elongated portion, which in 
