The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-09-28

Beneath the thunders of the upper deep
 Far far below in the abysmal sea
 Is the land of sponges region of mld- night eternal, 1t up with hundreds of flash Ing, glowing points of green. yellow or white light-the starlights of the sea. The beautiful sponges, of all shades of red and brown, green and yellow and purple, cover the rocky floor, while In and out between them swim the little fishes, tho cuttlefish, crabs and thousands of other creatures. Run and get bath sponge and take good look at 1t. How springy it Is, and how IL sucks up waterl But you cannot discover any animals in 1t? Notice the holes all through it, some small and some very large. It was in those holes that the animals lived, thou sands and thousands in each sponge. When that sponge grew on the rocks at the bottom of the sea 1t was q very dlfferent-looking af- fair, and there was no spring to 1t.
 Now, a sponge Is nothing more or less than a flat house of the sea-a tenement under waterl Each little sponge animal has his own set of holes to live in, with front door opening on the outside and a back door opening Into . passage.
 But, well supplied as he is with doors, the little sponge animal never leaves his house, for he has built the particular rooms he lives in and built himself insdel Moreover. the large holes are closed by little membrane that only opens to allow water and floating objects to leave the interior. Nothing can enter these back doors. How, then, does the little creature get his dinner?
 Every bit of his dinner comes in with stream of water at the little front doors on the surface of the sponge. and after he has picked out the best food the stream of water carries the remainder out the back doors. Is not that convenient way to live? In the picture there are three kinds of sponges- the brown sponge Zig D, the red arctic sponge Zig. ? and the little tube sponge QFig 3. You sec the fine bunch of tiny glass rods that rise from the top of the little tube sponges! These are thought to be for pro- tection against nlbbling fishes but l think they are for catching and holding little foating creatures that are food for the sponge
 Sponges are very beautiful when seen under the water, but there are other crea- lures down al their feet which are far more beautiful. These are the starfishes. These creatures are thrown up on the beaches and can be found alive among the rocks in those cool and fascinating depths called 'tide pools." But they occur most numer- ously further out, especially in the oyster beds and sponge beds, where they enjoy an occasional oyster dinner or a repast of sand worms.
 The commonest starfish Is the fellow with five straight rays the true star shape. It is covered with a stlff coat, and down each arm on the undersde, extends an opening like narrow trench. Now you would never dream where the starfshs feet are, because in the water 1t is hard to see them. Along the furrow mentioned there are scores of tiny holes in rows, and when the star Is alive under water each of these holes Is filled by a tiny tube foot" long, trans parent tube, with sucker at the end These feet are able to stretch out until many times their normal lenght. and when they are all doing their proper share the starfish can establish new records, and break old ones, too, getting over the rocks