128 OKHAMANDAL MARINE ZOOLOGY REPORT PART II 



echinated by small spined styli, while slender diactinal megascleres occur scattered 

 and in loose wisps in the soft tissues between. Towards the surface the diactinal 

 megascleres become -much more abundant and form radiating dermal brushes. The 

 megascleres are rather more robust than in the type "and the diactinal megascleres 

 are distinctly tornote, i.e. very abruptly pointed at each end, rather than rounded off. 



Previously known Distribution. Gulf of Mannar, Ceylon Seas (Dendy). 



Register Numbers, Locality, &c. IV. 2 a, b, dredged off S.W. coast of Beyt Island ; 

 XXXIV. 4, channel, W. side of S. end of Beyt Island, 3-4 fathoms, 3.1.06. 



40. Clathria corallitincta Dendy. 



Clathria corallitincta Dendy [1889]. 



Clathria frondifera Dendy [1905]. 



? Clathria frondifera Ridley [1884]. 



? Halichondria frondifera Bowerbank [1875]. 



There are three good-sized specimens and one small specimen of this sponge in the 

 collection. They have, each as a whole, a massive form with a slight tendency to 

 become lamellar, but each is in reality made up of an immense number of slender, 

 anastomosing branches, forming a close network, with the ends of the branches 

 projecting on the surface in the form of conuli. All three specimens exhibit large 

 pseudoscula on prominent parts of the sponge. 



The spiculation calls for no special comment except as regards the presence of 

 numerous large, stout, strongly bent toxa. 



It is quite possible that Bowerbank's Halichondria frondifera may be a very 

 variable and widely distributed species, with which the Indian specimens might be 

 identified, as I did with Ceylon specimens in 1905 ; but I am now more inclined, in view 

 of Bowerbank's original description and the new material to hand, to regard the Indian 

 and Ceylon specimens as belonging to a distinct species, as I did in 1889, under the 

 name Clathria corallitincta. 



Previously known Distribution. Gulf of Mannar, Ceylon (Dendy). 



Register Numbers, Localities, &c. IV. 14, off S.W. coast of Beyt Island ; XVIII. 2, 

 channel, W. of Beyt Island, 3-4 fathoms, January, 1906; XIX. 1, Vamiani Point, 

 January 5, 1906 ; XXXIV. 2, channel, W. side of S. end of Beyt Island, 3-4 fms., 

 3.1.06. 



41. Clathria spiculosa Dendy. 



Rhaphidophlus spiculosus Dendy [1889]. 

 Clathria spiculosa Dendy [1905]. 

 Clathria spiculosa var. ramosa Dendy [1905]. 

 Clathria spiculosa vars. ramosa and macilenta [Hentschel 1912]. 

 There are several specimens in the collection which I identify with this common 



