Omaha daily bee., 1916-02-16
The Winder of the Sponge
NJ Garrett =. ssrviss.

A III. ''-''O 'D"'4 -'A' a" ''
sponges are among the most wonderful and
DuEzling OF animals The sponge Of our bathrooms Is
the soft skeleton the species OF this remark
able creature which represents one OF the very Oldest
forms OF life globe having lasted through sue
geologic periods for Of millions Of years.
although It belongs to offshoot which has led to
nothing else'--that say, which has produced by
evolution no higher forms than itself
II you will visit the American Museum OF Natural
History you will specimens and models OF spongcs
that will f you with Amusement and admiration by
their intricate and beautiful shapes and their delicate
and varied colors.
A living sponge Is a kind OF cell city II you can
imagine thousands OF siamese twins all Joined into
composite body you will have idea OF the kind
OF multipex animal that sponge is
But. OF course. you must not drive the comparison
too far. cell has life and activity but II has
organs like high and complex animal.
"sponges." says a zoologist a. A. Thomson), ARE
living thickets in which many small animals play hide
and seek"
Formerly many thought that sponges were kind
seaweed. They grow attached rocks. shells and
other objects in the water and nearly all live in the
sea, although there is fresh-water species called
spongilla The skeleton framework OF sponge is
formed. in some species Of carbonate OF lime (Which
constitutes the greater part OF bones); IN
other species. Of silica flinty substance and in st
others, of horp-like material.
sponges manage 20 draw their food within their
reach by setting up currents in the II and
your family microscopic organisms. dwelling in
the neighborhood OF sponge, you might some morn
ing find that you were being swept along by gentle
current, soohngy unsuggestlve OF it's real import
the little shore eddes mile above Niagara; and
when too late you awoke to the situation you would
be rushing through crooked tube with hundreds OF
ella diving hairs) reaching for you from every side.
and you and yours would quickly become the sub
jects Of 'Intra-cellular digestion" Prot. Thomson
whom have already quoted gives this very graphic
49, 1919
lives
1.-THE particles drawn in through minute pores
all the surface Of the SPONGE they pass the
cavity of the cup and they driven out again in
stream from the large upper aperture. To what
the currents dus7 Obviously the flashing activity
the cillated cells.
'The community Is venice-like, penetrated by
canals BY these food other necessares are con.
tinually supplied to the houses cells banks
and constant current IL sustained by the life OF
the city"
But many sponres are very much more complicated
than the simple cup-shaped variety described by
Thomson Their general scheme of living. however
is about the same.
sponges spread like plants by building They also
have sexee In the caieareous sponges the ovum IL
fertixod by the germ-oeu borne TO II by water
the enerses hollow sphere consisting OF cells
and this srhesn Is for time a free-swimming or
ganism which finally fixes itself for life to rock
Then the true sponge, in the forms which know.
Ths fresh-water sponges die in the autumn except
that certain groups OF cells forming gcmniues
vive during the winter and in the spring float away
to form sponges. These consist of males, which
short-ived. and females. which live longer From
tho latter is born another generation. which dies
In tho autumn like the first.
sponges have enemies. such a. burrowing worms
and IL has been thought that the sharp spiculas
flint knives which many Of them contain, and which
cut like little rasor~bades form part Of their de-
fensive armament 20
Some Of thenn however, themselves aggressive
There Is minute species which bores holes oyster
Shells and others fasten themselves 70 crabs thus
get carried about
The most remarkable OF these little travelling
sponges ID small orange-colored species which
selects for its domcile buckle she'll that IL inhabited
by q hermit crab. II Il knew that IN this way It
would free ride for life. Sometimes. is said
the sponge bores clear through the shell and thus
spoils Its auto for then the crab gets out