PLATE XXXI. 



HYMENIAGIDON RETICULATUS, Bowerbank. 



Vol. ii, p. 159, ' Mon. Brit. Spongiadse.' 



Fig. 1. Represents the type-specimen of the species 

 on the surface of a portion of a flat bouldered stone at 

 a, the remainder of the surface being covered with 

 small shells and other matters. Natural size. 



Fig. 2. A small piece of the reticulated dermal 

 membrane. X 123 linear. 



Fig. 3. One of the stout, acerate, skeleton spicula. 

 X 150 linear. 



The Rev. A. M. Norman dredged a specimen of this 

 sponge at Jersey, and sent it to me for examination. 

 It was preserved in spirit as it came from the sea. It 

 consisted of two small sponges which had grown 

 together at their bases. One was an inch in length by 

 half an inch in width, and the other three quarters of 

 an inch in diameter, and each about half an inch in 

 height ; and they had apparently been based on a rock 

 or large stone. The colour was dull, ochreous yellow, 

 with a tint of green. In the wet state no minute 

 reticulation was visible on the surface. Each of them 

 had three or four oscula on the upper surface, with 

 slightly elevated margins varying from a line to a line 

 and a half in diameter. The anatomical characters 

 were in perfect accordance with those of the type- 

 specimen, and the same variations in the perfect 

 development of the beautiful dermal reticulation were 

 visible. 



Mr. W. Saville Kent dredged twelve specimens of 

 this species off Guernsey in 1870 ; the largest did not 

 exceed an inch and a half in length, and the greater 



