BRITISH SPONGIAD.E. 295 



Ions ; secondary lines unispiculous ; spicula acerate, 

 rather short. Interstitial membranes, aspiculous. 



Colour. Alive, white, with a tint of brown ; dried, dark 

 brown. 



Habitat. Off St. Martin's Point, Guernsey, Rev. A. 

 M. Norman. 



Examined. In the dried state. 



I received five specimens of this sponge, of various sizes, 

 from my friend the Rev. A. M. Norman, who obtained 

 them while dredging in company with Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 off Guernsey. He describes their colour, when alive, as 

 " whity -brown." The largest of the specimens in the dried' 

 state is one and three-quarters of an inch long, nearly an 

 inch in width, and about half an inch in thickness. The 

 tuberous elevations on the surface are not always equally 

 well developed. In one of the five specimens they were 

 merely indicated by a slight elevation of two of the oscula ; 

 in another they were strongly produced in a group at one 

 end of the sponge, and very slightly so at the other, and a 

 third specimen, three fourths of an inch in length, consisted 

 of* one large separate tuberous mass, eight lines in height, 

 and three others rather smaller but confluent, each termi- 

 nating in a large osculum. It is, therefore, apparent that 

 the external form of this species is very variable. The 

 oscula are very large for so small a sponge, varying from 

 one to two lines in diameter. The pores are evenly dis- 

 persed over the whole surface, and may be readily seen in 

 a dried specimen by the aid of a lens of an inch focus. 

 The surface of the sponge is strongly hispid, by means of 

 the projection of the distal terminations of the primary lines 

 of the skeleton, which pass through the dermal membrane 

 to the full extent of the length of a single spiculum. The 

 dermal membrane is supported on the terminal areas of the 

 skeleton, and it is entirely destitute of tension spicula. In 

 the areas thus formed one very large or several smaller 

 pores may usually be seen. The spicula of the skeleton 

 are all as nearly as possible of the same size and form, 



