A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: including historical and scientific notices of the various objects of art, literature, natural history, anatomical preparations, antiquities, &c., in that celebrated collection / by J. Laskey.

Date:: 1813

Credit: A general account of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow: including historical and scientific notices of the various objects of art, literature, natural history, anatomical preparations, antiquities, &c., in that celebrated collection / by J. Laskey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$«d, the passages keeled, narrow, rather sharp, with a subdichotomous striated Saloon,. coral on the under side. Sicily- , r i-i j . RJo-ht 31 MadreporaCiustata, Cr«<;rfM«</rf/»or?. Leaf-like crested, connect- Kignt ed stars in series, sunk in the centre, passages smooth, flattened. East In- Apartment^ *^''2. Madrepor A INTERSTINCTA, Dotted Madrepore. Aggregated, stars cy- Nat. Hist. lindrical, deep, distinct, interstices porous, with a smooth thick doubled coral; this is the blue coral of Pallas's Zoophiles. From East Indies. Class Case 33*. Madrepora Undata, IVaved Madrepore. Leafy smooth connected stars in a series, passages between the stars elevated, keels rounded, thick. East Indies. 34. Madrepora FasTICIATA, Fastigiate Madrepore, or Branched Fungus Co- ral. Dichotomous subfastigiate branches somewhat distinct, all the stars termi- nal, and rather regular, those of one year's growth flatly doubled. West Indies, 35. Madrepora Damicornis, Deer-Horned Madrepore. Branched with nu- merous small branches, tapering and somewhat divided, stars thickly spread, hidden ciliate. East Indies. 36. Madrepora Porites, Club-branched Coral. The branches club-shaped, smoothly compressed; stars contiguous (in the place of lamellae,) pointedly tu- berculate. West Indies. SPONGI^, or SPONGES. These are of animal origin, fixed, and flexible, and very torpid, growing in Glass Case a variety of forms, composed either of reticulated fibres or small spines inter- ]3. woven together, which are clothed with a living gelatinous flesh, full of small mouths or holes on us surface, by which it sucks in and throws out the ■water. The texture of these animals is very different in different species; some being composed wholly of interwoven reticulated fibres, whilst others are composed of little masses of strait fibres of different sizes, from the most minute spiculoe to strong elastic shining spines, like small needles of one-third of an inch long; besides these, there is an intermediate sort between the reti- ctdated and the finer fasciculated kinds, which seem to partake of both sorts. ' Glass Case marked B, (in the right hand apartment of the Saloon) contains a variety of species of this Zoo puite, as Spongia Infundibuliformh. Spong, Palmata, Spong. Off.cinalis, &c. &c. Our limits being so circumscribed we shall only attempt to describe a few species of these singular Zoophites; and as Spongia OfEcinalis, is well known to every one, we conclude the description of the common Sponge will prove more satisfactory than those of others more rare, and to which common access cannot at all times be had. No. 1. Common ^svoncz, {Spongia Officinalis,lAnn.) Is found in a variety of forms; it is elastic, very full of holes; it grows into lobes, and is of a woolly consistence. It generally adheres to roclts by a very broad base; it is often found inclosing small stones and shells; a variety of marine animals pierce and gnaw it into irregular winding cavities; these appear on the outside by larj;e holes raised higher than the rest; it varies in colour from a pale to a deep yellow, and likewise in the consistence of the fibres. When we cut it perpendicularly, we find the internal part consisting of small tubes, which divide into branches as they approach the surface. These tubes, composed of reticulated fibres, extend themselues every way; by this means increasing the surface of the sponge, and ending on the outside in an infinite number of small circular holes, which are the proper mouths of the animal; each of these holes are surrimnded by a few erect pointed fibres, which appear as if wove in the form of little spines. These tubes, with their ramifications, in the living state of the sponge, are clothed with a ge- latinous substance, properly called the flesh of the animal. This the fisher-- men, as soon as they are brought on shore, are obliged to squeeze out and wash the sponge clean, to prevent its growing putrid! When they are firfC$