1 1 



Bowerbank states to have received eight specimens of Hymeniacidon angulata, three 

 of which are preserved in the British Museum. They are all in the dried state. The type- 

 specimen, illustrated by Bowerbank, I have designated B. M. 8 : the co-types are marked B. M. 21 

 and B. M. 29. No doubt Bowerbank was right in considering the three specimens as belonging 

 to one species. Still, there are certain differences, which are rather striking. Compare e. g. 

 Bowerbank's illustration of B.M. 8 with mine of B.M. 29 (Pk II, hg- 5)- These differences, 

 which did not escape Bowerbank, are present as well in external appearance as in spiculation. I 

 want to draw attention to the fact that in B.M. 21 a slight indication of "tubes" is visible on the 

 surface, whereas in B. M. 8 en B. M. 29 one or two of the openings are somewhat slit-like — 

 features, which are characteristic for certain specimens of our sponge. The length, the diameter 

 and the shape of the tylostyles differ somewhat in the three specimens (PI. XIII, fig. 1 — 3). 



The specimens 612 a, 964 a and g66 a of the Siboga Sponges resemble on the whole 

 Bowerbank's Hymeniacidon angulata in external appearance as well as in spiculation, taking 

 into account that the former are preserved in alcohol, the latter dry. 



[Cf. Suberites inconstans\. 



V. Hymeniacidon pulvinatns. — Spirastrclla pnlvinata. 



1872 Bowerbank p. 126 — 127. 

 1882 Carter p. 350. 

 1884 {«.) Ridley p. 187. 

 1887 («) Dendy p. 156. 

 1SS9 (jï) Dendy p. 16. 



Bowerbank described a "new species", Hymeniacidon pulvinatus, which is probably "the 

 largest recent species known to naturalists". The sponge was found by Mr. Dyson, who told 

 Bowerbank "that the summit of the largest specimen was just below the surface of the water, 

 and that he passed one of the oars down by the side of the sponge and found that it was 

 S feet in height, and that they chiselled off the top of the sponge with the oars, and cut it 

 into three pieces for the convenience of packing it". Bowerbank received two specimens - - both 

 of course fragments; they measured resp. 73.5 X §5 cm. and 67.5 X 5 2 -5 cm. Other specimens 

 (from other localities?) in Bowerbank's collection measured only 20 X 3° cm. and 10 x 15 cm. 

 I saw a specimen in the British Museum belonging to the Bowerbank collection and found near 

 Belize; it is labelled Spirastrclla pulvinata, probably by Ridley, who established the name 

 (1. c. p. 1S7): "I have labelled the magnificent specimens on which the species is based, now 

 in the British Museum, as above" (viz. Spirastrclla pnlvinata). It is to the very large specimen 

 that my number B. M. 7 refers. Carter called this sponge Spongia dysoni. 



[Cf. infra]. 



VI. Spongia dysoni. 



1879 (x) Carter p. 348; PI. XXIX, fig. 11. 

 1882 Carter p. 350. 

 1889 (x) Dendy p. 22. 



Carter writes in 1882 p. 350: "-Spongia Dysoni Bk. This is the name on the largest 



