Th e Fresh - iva ter Sponges of Ire la nd^ 123 



A few months ago, Dr. Adriano Garbini, of Verona, published 

 a paper on Italian Spongillidse. He has found, so far, only 

 two species, namely Eiispongilla lacustris and Ephydatia 

 fluviatilis, and he gives a table showing the distribution of 

 those two species in Europe (4, p. 20). They occur according 

 to Garbini in all European countries, except the Iberian and 

 Balkan peninsulas, and he explains this by saying that the 

 long mountain-range of the Pyrenees, Alps and the Balkans 

 hindered the dispersal of those Sponges from Northern Europe 

 (where according to Merejkowsky, (5), at least Euspongilla 

 lacustris has its home) into Southern Europe. Those two 

 species, found in Italy, were conveyed and dispersed by 

 migratory birds along their lines of flight from the White Sea 

 and the Baltic, to the lakes of the Alps and Northern Italy. 

 But before we accept this explanation, we must ask w^hether 

 it is settled beyond dispute that only two species of Spongil- 

 lidse exist in Italy. In regard to their supposed non- 

 occurrence in the Iberian and Balkan peninsulas, I ma)^ 

 state that quite recently, amongst a collection of marine 

 Sponges, sent to me by Dr. Paulino d'Oliveira in Coimbra, 

 Portugal, I discovered an Euspongilla lacustris, coming from 

 a small river near Caldas de Nixella, North Portugal. 

 Whether this is really the first instance that the occurrence 

 of a fresh-water Sponge in Portugal has been stated, I 

 cannot say. 



Coming now to Great Britain, we find that Bowerbank (1) 

 mentions four species, which, according to his nomenclature, 

 are : — 



Spongilla Jlicviatilis, Johnst. 

 Spongilla lacustris, Johnst. 

 Spongilla Parfitti, Carter. 

 Spongilla sceptrijei'a, B. 



One of these, Spo7igilla Parfitti, is synonymous with 

 Ephydatia Millleri, I^iebk. (SeeTopsent, 9, p. 12). Spongilla 

 sceptrifera, B., is, according to Carter (2, p. 93), probably nothing 

 but Spongilla {^Ephydatia) fluviatilis ; "for S. fluviatilis grows 

 abundantly in the same locality [reservoir, Exeter], and the 

 characteristic spicule represented by Dr. Bowerbank (/. c. fig. 

 17) is nothing more than a detached frustule of the diatom 

 Asterionella, like A. foniiosa'' Bowerbank's type specimen 



