SPONGES, OR PORIFER A

(Lat. por us, ‘a pa age;’ fero, ‘I bear’), may be distinguished from other groups of animals by their simplicity. Many of them po e a porous, ‘spongy’ texture, a soft gelatinous substance called sarcode or flesh. They are found in the Mediterranean, where the finest varieties occur, and in the W. Indies. They are obtained by divers using pronged forks with long handles, or in deeper water by a drag-net. The sponges, once procured, are left for a few days in the open air to decay, then sunk in the ocean in an open crate for a week; thereafter they are beaten and squeezed clean from fleshy matter and hung in the sun for fibrous skeleton to dry.