102 A MONOGRAPH OF THE 



British shells," appears to be the species so abundant near 

 Hastings, and designated Bictyocylindrus ramosus in this 

 work, while the sponge to which he alludes when he writes, 

 " 1 have since taken a larger and more perfect specimen on 

 the coast of Devon, measuring nearly five inches in height," 

 is possibly the species now under consideration, but if the 

 figure given by Montagu, plate viii, vol. ii, ' Wernerian 

 Memoirs,' represents that sponge, it has evidently been in 

 a very dilapidated condition ; what remains of it would 

 agree very well in size and form with the corresponding 

 portion of Mr. Beckles' specimen, but in other respects the 

 identification is far from complete ; I have therefore thought 

 it advisable to consider D. ramosus of this work as the type 

 of Montagu's Spongia ramosa, and to give a distinct name 

 to Mr. Beckles' specimen. I may also observe that D. 

 ramosus has been obtained from the Brixham trawlers by my 

 friend Mr. Thomas Ingall, exceeding nine inches in height. 



Since the above was written, I have obtained a second 

 specimen of this species from Mr. Henry Ridley, who 

 states that it was taken by a trawler on the Rough Ground 

 between Hastings and Brighton, early in May. When he 

 received it, it w r as of a bright orange-yellow colour. This 

 specimen does not exhibit the same fan-shaped outline, and 

 numerous branches, that exist in the type specimen. It 

 has the same short pedicel, and commences branching an 

 inch from the base in the same manner, but it has only 

 three branches ; the first of them attains the height, in- 

 cluding the basal portion, of ten and a quarter inches ; the 

 second branch divides dichotomously at about three inches 

 from the base, and neither of these two exceed five and a half 

 inches in height, and all are in the same plane, and the 

 branches near their origin have the same description of 

 slender lateral branches that are observable in the larger 

 specimen. 



The colour of Mr. Beckles' specimen was stated by the 

 person who had the sponge from the fisherman to have been 

 darker and more yellow before it was dried ; it harmonises 

 in colour, therefore, very closely with the specimen I obtained 

 in the fresh state from Mr. Henry Ridley, of Hastings. 



