THE SPONGES OF THE WEST-CENTRAL PACIFIC 63 



smaller spicules may merely be juvenile forms, the present specimen is 

 identified with coerulescens. In practically every respect other than the thin 

 spicules it agrees remarkably with the West Indian forms described by 

 Topsent. 



Haliclona viridis (Duchassaing & Michelotti) de Laubenfels 



Text Figure No. 37 



This species is here represented by the following : 



U.S.N.M. No. 22950, My No. M. 323, collected June 24, 1949, by diver at 

 Ailing-lap-lap Atoll at the east end of the lagoon near Jih Islet. The 

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



U.S.N.M. No. 23028, My No. M. 407, collected July 30, 1949, by diver in 

 the lagoon in northwest Ponape. The depth was 5 meters, and the sub- 

 strate was dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 22895, My No. M. 197, collected August 10, 1949, by diver at 

 the west side of Moen Islet in Truk lagoon. The depth was 2 meters, 

 and the substrate was underside of dead coral. 



U.S.N.M. No. 22927, My No. M. 233, collected September 2, 1949, by diver 

 in the Palaus northwest of Koror near Ngarebagal Islet. The depth was 

 3 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



This sponge was fairly common at the east end of the Ailing-lap-lap 

 lagoon, and not common in the other regions studied, although widely dis- 

 tributed. 



The four specimens may be described as follows : first, amorphous with 

 lobes 6 cm high; second, a mass with finger-shaped processes 11 cm high; 

 third, semi-incrusting ; and, fourth, ramose with branches 1 by 2 cm in cross 

 section and 14 cm high. All these shapes are quite typical of the species 

 viridis. 



The color in life was medium to bright green ; in some cases that of the 

 interior was slightly paler than that of the exterior, although in other cases 

 the endosome had the same tint or hue. The consistency was consistently 

 somewhat spongy and usually fragile and easily torn, but a curious exception 

 exists in the Truk specimen, which lacked the erect processes and was not 



Text Figure No. 37. Four of the spicules (oxea) of Haliclona viridis, X 781. 



