of different kinds. It will be interesting to the visitor to know
something of the natural history of the sponge. It has been
ascertained, beyond a doubt, that the sponge is an animal that sucks
in its food and excretes its superfluities; that certain of its pores
imbibe, while others exude; and that according to the relative
positions of the two distinct sets of pores, is the shape of the
sponge determined. In a natural state, as it is found in the
Mediterranean, the sponge is surrounded with a thick glutinous matter,
which is its vital part; like coral, it is a zoophyte: it propagates
in the same manner, and its life is indestructible till it is removed
from its proper element, and the glutinous matter which makes its
vitality has been boiled out of its pores, leaving the soft and
beautiful skeletons, of which these cases contain many specimens. Here
also are some old sponges preserved in flint. Having noticed these
beautiful zoophytes, the visitor should proceed in an easterly
direction into the room he recently quitted, to examine the table
cases it contains. The first tables to which he should direct his
attention here, are those in which a series of Crustacea or
hard-coated animals are deposited. They are of Cuvier's order of
animal life, known as the articulata, or animals whose bodies consist
of a series of moveable joints. These are mostly inhabitants of the
sea, and rank in the animal kingdom as the highest class of the
Articulata, except the insects, who head the order. The tables upon
which the Crustacea or