PLATE LXXXIX. 317 



MICEOCIONA KENTII, BowerbanJc. 

 Plate LXXXIX. 



Sponge parasitical on fuci, sessile, massive. Sur- 

 face uneven, papulous, smooth. Oscula simple, dis- 

 persed. Pores inconspicuous. Dermal membrane 

 abundantly spiculous ; tension spicula fusiformi-acerate, 

 rather short and stout, same size as those of the 

 skeleton columns, dispersed, or occasionally irregularly 

 fasciculated ; retentive spicula bidentate equi-anchorate, 

 rather abundant. Skeleton. Columns slender, diffuse 

 and irregular/branching at intervals ; spicula fusiformi- 

 acerate, rather short and stout. 



External defensive spicula same as those of the 

 skeleton. Internal defensive spicula. Attenuato- 

 acuato entirely spined, very variable in size, numerous. 

 Interstitial membranes spiculous ; tension spicula same 

 form as those of the skeleton but more slender, re- 

 tentive spicula same as those of the dermal membrane. 



Colour. Preserved in spirit, dull ochreous yellow, 

 with a tint of green ; dried, dull ochreous yellow. 



Habitat. Jersey and Strangford Lough ; Rev. A. M. 

 Norman. Guernsey, Mr. W. Saville Kent. 



Examined. From spirit and in the dried state. 



This sponge was dredged off Guernsey by Mr. W. 

 Saville Kent in the summer of 1870. It surrounds 

 the stem of a fucus for two inches in height, and its 

 greatest diameter is about one inch. Its substance 

 is permeated in every direction by branches of Corallina 

 officinalis to such an extent as to entirely conceal the 

 sponge until a portion of them was removed. The 

 papulous condition of the surface is produced by the 

 projection of the distal ends of the skeleton columns, 

 the spicula of which radiate as they approach the 

 surface, but in their natural state do not appear to 

 pass through the dermal membrane. The oscula are 

 simple and so small as not to be visible without the 

 aid of a two-inch lens. In a specimen of the dermal 



