THE SPONGES OF THE WEST-CENTRAL PACIFIC 9 



reference is Wilson, 1925, page 486, where this variety is described as occur- 

 ring in the Philippine Islands. 



GENUS HIPPIOSPONGIA de Laubenfels 



Hippiospongia communis (Lamarck) de Laubenfels 



subspecies ammata new 



Text Figure No. 3 

 Plate II, Figure b 



This species is here represented by the following : 

 U.S.N.M. No. 23093, My No. M. 475, here designated as type, collected 



August 17, 1949, by diver in Kuop Atoll in the lagoon in the lee of 



Givry Islet. The depth was 4 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 

 U.S.N.M. No. 23025, My No. M. 404, collected July 30, 1949, by diver in 



northwest Ponape in the lagoon between the reef and the shore. The 



depth was 5 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 

 U.S.N.M. No. 23070, My No. M. 450, collected August 10, 1949, by diver 



near Moen Islet in the Truk lagoon. The depth was 2 meters, and the 



substrate was dead coral. 



This species was common in various places at Ponape, somewhat less 

 common near the shore than near the reef. It was abundant near Matalanim 

 in northeast Ponape, and occurred also at Kiti in southwest Ponape. It was 

 found not only around Moen Islet (Truk) but was common in the west part 

 of Truk lagoon, near Tol Islet. It doubtless occurs throughout the whole 

 archipelago. The finest specimens of all were found to be abundant in 

 Kuop Atoll. 



This species is amorphous to massive and reaches a vertical measurement 

 of at least 20 cm and a diameter of at least 70 cm. Specimens 12 to 50 cm 

 in diameter are common. 



The color may be cited as gray. When the sponge grows in a more 

 brilliantly illuminated environment, the gray is therefore darker, sometimes 

 nearly, but never quite, black. When the sponge grows in a more shaded 

 environment, the color is paler. The endosome was drab and more uniform 

 in shade than is true of the ectosome. The consistency was extremely 

 spongy. 



The surface is quite distinctive. It is conulose with conules which are 

 rounded at the tip, about 1 to (less often) 2 mm in height, and 2 to (more 

 often) 6 or 8 mm apart. These conules are interconnected by conspicuous 

 ridges, so that each appears to be the focus of a stellate or starlike pattern. 

 The pores are 30 \x to 100 \x in diameter and 50 ^ to 150 jx apart, center to 

 center. They are often grouped in such a way as to represent skeletal pores 

 of three or four hundred [x in diameter, each comprising about six or eight 

 actual pores, whose partitions are only 20 /x wide. The oscules are quite 



