THE SPONGES OF THE WEST-CENTRAL PACIFIC 



Text Figure No. 52. Callyspongia psammophcra. A: Portion of the ectosomal reticula- 

 tion, X 182. B: One of the spicules (oxea), X 781. 



Bikajela Island. The depth was 10 meters, and the substrate was dead 

 coral. 



This sponge is amorphous to incrusting, reaching a thickness of about 

 8 mm and a diameter of 21 mm. 



The color in life was almost white, but definitely a grayish lavender, 

 changing rapidly to yellow in preservative. The consistency was between 

 spongy and fragile. 



The surface is punctiform. The coarser dermal skeleton consists of 

 more or less square meshes, outlined by fibers about 90 /x in diameter. The 

 mesh diameter is about 240 fx. These primary fibers are full of foreign 

 material, which gives them such an irregular outline that they appear almost 

 like walls between the gross pores. Each such skeletal pore is filled in with 

 a finer mesh of fibers only about 10 ^ in diameter, outlining true pores 50 p. 

 in diameter, but these finer fibers also contain coarse material, the particles 

 of which often are as much as 50 [x in diameter. The oscules are 2 to 4 mm 

 in diameter, with a definitely raised rim. There is about one per each 

 square cm. 



The ectosome is as noted above, and the endosome is a fibro-reticulation. 



The skeleton consists of spongin fibers of great irregularity in shape, 

 but often about 100 /x in diameter. These contain coarse debris. There are 

 also smaller fibers among them, only about 10 /x in diameter. The spicules 

 are very rare and are oxeas 2 /x by 70 /x to 3 [x by 75 p. in dimensions. 



