Of course, I _searched_ for sponges, and found many a fine specimen buried almost out of sight in the sand,--but what glorious fun it was, to be sure! There I obtained the large, coarse "basket sponge" (_Hirvina campana_), a hollow, inverted cone, often capable of holding a pailful of water; the remarkable finger sponge (_Tuba vaginalis_), which forms clusters of upright, hollow cylinders; a large cylindrical sponge of a rich brown color, and beautiful wiry texture, called _Verongia fistularis_; and sponges that were like trees, like interlocked deer antlers, and what not.
Professor H.A. Ward's last catalogue of invertebrates enumerated forty-three species of sponges that were on hand when the list went to press. Of these, the largest specimen was a huge Neptune's cup (_Paterion neptuni_), four feet in height, and shaped like a gigantic goblet, which came from the neighborhood of Singapore.
Therefore, I say, when on the seashore, be on the lookout for sponges. If you can find them on the beach ready cleaned and dried for you, so much the better; but if you get them alive, the soft animal matter must be macerated and washed away, just as you would macerate the flesh from a large skeleton. Soak them in fresh water for a short time to macerate the soft matter, then wash it out in salt water, and keep this up until the sponge is at last clean.
CORALS.--The bleached white coral cluster of the cabinet is, like the sponge, only the skeleton of its former self. When it was forcibly torn from its foothold at the bottom of the sea it was covered with living coral polyps, which gave it the color which is peculiarly its own. Some species, notably _Madrepores_, when first taken from the water look like colored glass. The main branches are of a yellowish-brown tint, shading toward the tips to the most delicate and beautiful bluish purple. There is no way to preserve these colors, because they are due entirely to the presence of the living polyps. When those delicate organisms die, as die they must, the color vanishes, and if not cleaned and bleached, the coral assumes a dead, smoky brown appearance, suggestive of dust and dirt.
Therefore it is best to clean and bleach your corals at once. This requires a little time, but the process is "so simple a child can use it." Small specimens can be cleaned quickly by washing them in dilute muriatic acid, and afterward in clear water to keep the acid from going too far, and then placing them out in the sun to bleach. Large specimens cannot always be treated in this way, and the best plan for wholesale operations is to place the coral on the ground, in a sunny situation, and dash water upon it daily until the soft animal matter has been washed away, and the wind and sun combined have bleached the specimens to snowy whiteness.