89 



PLATE XXXV. 



HYMENIACIDON VIRGULTOSA, Bower&ank. 



Vol. ii, p. 193, ' Mon. Brit. Spongiadse.' 



In vol. ii I have described this species of sponge as 

 parasitical on Zoophytes or Fuci Since then I have 

 received more than a dozen fine specimens from Mr. 

 Cullen of Scarborough, none of which exhibited any 

 signs of Zoophytes or Fuci within them. 



I have also received a specimen of the species from 

 Mr. Jonathan Couch in the form of a flat mass 3^ 

 inches long, 2 inches wide, and not exceeding half an 

 inch in thickness. In external appearance it is so like 

 H. suberea that it is only by a microscopical exami- 

 nation that it can be separated from that species. 



Fig. 1. Represents a specimen in the wet condition 

 as it came from the sea. It has quite a fleshlike soft- 

 ness and is very flexible, and there are no signs of an 

 attachment at its smaller or basal end. It is probable 

 that it had been accidentally detached from its natural 

 base, and had been floating freely about for some time 

 before it was dredged up. Natural size. 



Fig. 2. Is a smaller specimen of the species based 

 on a small bivalve shell. The figure is from the 

 sponge in the wet condition as it came from the sea, 

 fleshy and flexible as the larger one. Natural size. 



Fig. 3 a and b. Represents the basal and distal 

 extremities of the same specimen, which is 39 inches 

 in length ; the 25 inches not represented in the plate 

 possess precisely the same characters as the figured 

 portions of the stem, gradually attenuating from the 

 distal termination of the basal portion to the proximal 

 end of the distal portion of the sponge. This very 



