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THE GLASS-SPONGES.
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handle, and spreading out in the water, grew the zoophyte, as he regarded the silicious whisp, and its bark-like envelop. Now, among the polyps, known as Alcyonarians, is the Gorgonia, or Sea-fan, which has an axis of a horn-like nature, and a crust of lime; so he made of this polyp, which he supposed constructed the axis and the case, an Alcyonarian, allied to those polyps which build the Sea-fans. But the difficulty was that, instead of a centre or core of keratose, with an
Fig. 3.
Euplectella Speciosa. The Venus Flower-Basket: A Glass Sponge. That on the right is a portion of the natural size, intended to show the lace-like meshes. The full figure is about half the natural size.
