The larvæ of these forms are very differently constituted to those of Sycandra. They have an oval form and are composed of a single row of ciliated columnar cells: their two extremities only differ in the cells at one extremity being longer than those at the other. Especially at the pole where the shorter cells are situated (Schmidt) a metamorphosis of the cells takes place. One after the other they lose their cilia, become granular, and pass into the interior of the vesicle. Here they become differentiated into two classes (Metschnikoff); one of larger and more granular cells, and the other of smaller cells with clearer protoplasm. Cells of the former class are mainly found at one of the poles. When the larva becomes free the cells in the interior of the vesicle increase in number and nearly fill up its central cavity. After a short free existence the larva becomes fixed, and the epiblast cells lose their cilia and become flattened. At a later period the large granular cells assume a radiate arrangement round a central cavity and become clearly marked out as the hypoblast cells. The smaller cells become placed between the epiblast and hypoblast and constitute the mesoblast.
Myxospongiæ. In this group Halisarca has been investigated by Carter (No. [123]), Barrois (No. [122]), Schulze (No. [141]) and Metschnikoff (No. [134]). The ova develop in the mesoblast, and when ripe occupy special chambers lined by a layer of epithelial cells. Schulze has found the spermatozoa of this genus of sponge and has been able to shew that the sexes may be distinct, though many species of Halisarca are hermaphrodite.
The segmentation is, roughly speaking, regular, and a segmentation cavity is early formed, which is never, as in Calcispongiæ, open at the poles. When the larva leaves the parent it is an oval vesicle formed of a single layer of columnar ciliated cells. Slight differences may be observed between the two extremities of the larvæ of most species. One of these—the hinder extremity—is directed backwards in swimming.
The further history of the larva has been investigated by Metschnikoff. He has found that the interior of the vesicle becomes gradually filled with mesoblast cells of a peculiar type, called by him rosette-cells, which are probably derived from the walls of the vesicle.
When the metamorphosis commences, the larva assumes a flattened form, and cells of a new type, viz. normal amœboid cells, grow in amongst the rosette cells. The new cells are also derived from the epiblast. The larvæ appear to fix themselves by the hinder extremity. The cilia gradually disappear, and the epiblast cells flatten out and form a kind of cuticle. For some time the larva remains in the two-layered condition, but gradually canals (? ciliated chambers) lined by hypoblast cells become formed. They appear as closed spaces with walls of ciliated cells derived from the amœboid cells, and the different parts of the system of chambers are established independently. In H. pontica the ciliated chambers are formed before the attachment of the larva. The development was not followed up to the formation of the pores placing the canal system in communication with the exterior.
The young sponges at a somewhat later stage have been studied by Schulze and Barrois. They are formed of an external layer of flattened cells, not clearly ciliated as in the adult, within which are a normal mesoblastic tissue, and several spherical chambers lined by ciliated cells exactly like the ciliated chambers of the full-grown sponge. Irregular invaginations of the epiblast give to the young sponge a honeycombed structure. The ciliated chambers in the youngest condition of the sponge are closed; but in slightly older examples they come into communication with the passages lined by hypoblast, and so indirectly with the external medium.
Ceratospongiæ. Amongst the true Ceratospongiæ the embryos of two of the Aplysinidæ, and of Spongelia and Euspongia have been to some extent worked out by Barrois and Schulze. The form worked out by Barrois is called by him Verongia rosea. The segmentation is nearly regular, but from the first the segments may be divided according to their constitution into two categories. At the close of segmentation the embryo is oval and covered by a single layer of columnar ciliated cells; these cells may however be divided into two categories, corresponding with those observable during the segmentation. A certain number are coloured red and form a definite circular mass at one pole, while the remainder, which constitute the major part of the embryo, have a pale yellowish colour. Those at the red pole lose their cilia in the free larva, but around the area formed by them is a special ring of long cilia. The chief peculiarity of the embryo (made known by Schulze) consists in the fact that the layer of cells which covers the embryo does not, as in other sponge embryos, simply enclose a space, but the interior of the embryo is formed of a mass of stellate cells like the normal mesoblast of full-grown sponges.
This feature is also characteristic of the embryos of Spongelia and Euspongia.
The embryo of the Gummineæ (Gummina mimosa) has been investigated by Barrois (No. [122]), and has been shewn closely to resemble the typical larvæ of calcareous sponges; one-half being formed of elongated ciliated cells and the other of rounded granular ones.
Silicispongiæ. The development of marine silicious sponges is but very imperfectly understood. The larvæ of various forms—Reniera (Isodyctia), Esperia (Desmacidon), Raspailia, Halichondria, Tethya—have been described. Barrois has shewn that the egg segments regularly and that in the earlier stages a segmentation cavity is present. In the later stages the embryo appears to become solid. Externally there is a layer of ciliated cells, and within a mass of granular matter in which the separate cells cannot be made out. The granular matter projects at one pole, and forms a prominence possibly equivalent to the granular cells of Sycandra. In some forms, e.g. Reniera, the edge of the unciliated granular prominence may be surrounded by a row of long cilia. In later stages the granular material may project at both poles or even at other points. One remarkable feature in the development of the Silicispongiæ is the appearance of spicula between the ciliated cells and the central mass, while the larva is still free.