i8 



PORIFERA. I. 



those oi panicca, but I have had the opportunity to examine a piece sent by the Rev. A.M.Norman 

 under the name of H. coaliia, and the spicules of this piece agree very well with those of H. panicea. 

 Schmidt's Rrnirra shnitubulosa (Die Spong. d. adriat. Meeres, 1862, 75) would, according to his 

 expressions in Grundziige einer Spong. Faun. d. atlant. Gebiet 1870, 42, also seem to belong hither, 

 but this species is otherwise not easily judged. Grentzenberg, I.e. 13, is of opinion that Aiiiorphii/a 

 pasisccns from the North Sea, established, but very incompletely described b}- Schmidt (Jahresbericht 

 d. Commiss. zur wissensch. Unters. d. deutsch. Meere in Kiel fiir 1872 — 73, 115) is also H.panicea^ what 

 also seems rather likely. Finally Tops en t in his account of the species of Bower bank (Revue biol. 

 du Nord de la Fr. VII, 1894, 14) expresses the opinion that further Hal. cadnca. iiiccrta, ambigiia, 

 Hym. Thomasii and tegeticula are synonymous with panicea. It must howe\er, be remembered that 

 Hal.incerta and Hym. Thomasii belong to those species, to which Bowerbank attributes two forms of 

 oxea; if we are to regard it to be correct that they have been referred to paiiicra, it must consequently 

 be supposed, that Bowerbank has interpreted developmental forms of the needles as special forms. 



In Johnston I.e. a complete list is found of the earlier, more or less certain synonyms of the 

 species ; to this list may thus Idc added as probable or certain : Spongia coalita Miill., Halichondria coalita 

 Johnston, Halichondria scvosa ]oh.nsto\\ (according to Bowerbank), Pellina semihibulosa O.'&.l Amorphina 

 pasiscens O. S.?, as also the species of Bowerbank: Halichondria cadnca, iiiccrfa and awbigtia, Hyvic- 

 7/iacidon T/iomasii and tegcticula. 



Locality : Halichondria panicea is a very common species in the northern and arctic seas, and 

 we have it from Greenland: Holstensborg, Egedesminde, Godhavn; from Iceland: Reykjavik, Hvam.s- 

 fjord, Seydisfjord, Faskrudsfjord, Finnefjord, as well as from station 127, north of Iceland, 66° 33' Lat. N., 

 20° 05' Long. W. ; from the Faroe Islands: 6 miles to the N.W. of Kalso, Klaksvig, and Ejdesound. The 

 species is found to no great depth; the greatest depth from which we have it, is 60 fathoms, which 

 is also the greatest depth from which it is given with certainty in the literature. 



Geogr. distr. The species seems to be completely cosmopolitan ; it is found from the arctic seas 

 to the Mediterranean, and is known from Ceylon, Kerguelen Island, the Torres Strait and Japan, and 

 it was taken on the Belgian antarctic expedition between 70" and 71° 18' Lat. S. (TopsentjM- 



2. H. genitrix O. Schmidt. 



PI. IX, Fig. 2 a, b, c. 



1870. Amorphina genitrix O. Schmidt, Grundziige einer Spongienf. des atlant. Gebiet. 41, Tab. \\ fig. 9. 



1887. Amorphina nodosa Fristedt, Vega Exp. vetensk. lakttag. IV, 423, PI. 24, figs. 7 — 8. 



The form most frcipicntly rojindish. more or less irregular. The surface groo'eed and ruffled. 



Tlie dermal membrane 2vifh a somewhat irregular reticulation 0/ spicules. Oscula spread. The spicules 



form no fibres. Spicula oxea falling, as to their sizes, into t7i<o rather Tiuil bounded groups, tlie smaller 



ones o-io — o-i'j'"™, tlic larger o-2j8 — o'6y""". 



Under the name of Amor pfiina genitrix Schmidt I.e. established a species on a few specimens 



from Greenland, and these original specimens of S c h m i d t I have had before me. The description 



■) Topsent (Arch, de Zool. Experimentale et Generale. Notes et Revues. 1901. i) gives the depth 011 which all the 

 sponges of the expedition were taken, to be 400 — 569 metres; according to this H. panicea seems there to live at a considerable 

 greater depth than hitherto known. 



