Excerpt from The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Vol. 16: Including Zoology, Botany, and Geology The term Sponge is so generally accepted and of such great antiquity that it needs no excuse for preference but as there are many kinds of Sponges which more or less differ from that to which the term sponge is commonly applied, it is necessary to add some terminal affix by means of which all kinds may be added under the same name. Thus, if from the Greek word new (sponge) we form a patronymic in the neuter plural, we get Spongida, which, meaning Zoa Spongida (for the animality of sponges is now established), seems to me the best form that can be adopted for this purpose. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.