Descriptions of Species 



SUBKINGDOM PARAZOA 



PHYLUM PORIFERA Grant 

 CLASS DEMOSPONGEA 



ORDER KERATOSA Grant (or KERATIDA*) 



FAMILY SPONGIIDAE Gray 



GENUS SPONGIA Linne 



Spongia officinalis Linne 

 Subspecies matamata, new 



Text Figure No. 1 



Plate I 

 Plate II, Figure a 



This species is here represented by the following : 



U.S.N.M. No. 23200, My No. M. 299, here designated as type, collected 

 June 8, 1949, by a diver (Meling Loeak) at Ailing-lap-lap Atoll from 

 the southwest portion of the lagoon near Bikajela Islet. The depth was 

 6 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 22933, My No. M. 303, collected on June 11, 1949, by myself, 

 by hand, while wading at Ailing-lap-lap Atoll in the lagoon near Bikajela 

 Islet. The depth was near low tide mark, and the substrate was dead 

 coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 22953, My No. M. 327, collected on June 28, 1949, by diver 

 at Majuro Atoll in the east portion of the lagoon near the Islet called 

 Rita or Jarej. The depth was 4 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 23022, My No. M. 401, collected on July 30, 1949, by diver 

 (David Elio) in Northwest Ponape from the lagoon about halfway be- 

 tween the reef and the shore. The depth was 5 meters, and the substrate 

 was dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 22811, My No. N. 017, collected on April 28, 1946, by J. P. E. 

 Morrison at Bikini Atoll, Bokororyuou Islet. The depth was just below 

 low tide, and the substrate, while not listed, probably was dead coral. 

 This species was also collected in 1948 by T. E. Bullock at Bikini Atoll, 

 (my No. N. 101). 



This species is abundant throughout Ailing-lap-lap Atoll, and nearly as 

 common at Majuro Atoll, but only near the east end of the lagoon at Majuro. 

 Nevertheless, as at Ailing-lap-lap, Spongia is probably the commonest of all 

 Porifera in Majuro waters. It certainly occurs at Bikini, but its relative 

 abundance there is not reported. It was certainly absent when I first came 



* A proposal has been made in the publications of Section F of the American Association for Ad- 

 vancement of Science that all class names end in EA, and all orders in IDA. Many paleontologists 

 also favor this uniformity. 



