154 



THE SPONGES OP THE WEST-CENTRAL PACIFIC 



tions are not altogether satisfactory for bringing about this synonymy. It 

 should be carried out after a study of type specimens. It is appropriate to 

 predict that this species will be discovered abundantly throughout the western 

 Pacific and East Indian as well as Australian regions. 



GENUS CARMIA Gray 

 Carmia stegoderma, new 



Text Figure No. 100 



This species is here represented by the following : 

 U.S.N.M. No. 22886, My No. M. 186, here designated as type, collected 

 August 3, 1949, by divers in southwest Ponape in the province of Kita 

 near Toletik Islet. This was from a reef in the lagoon near shore. The 

 depth was 4 meters, and the substrate was dead coral. 



This species may be described as incrusting, but it has a very peculiar 

 shape, to be discussed below. Its dimensions were about 7 cm laterally. 



The ectosome color in life was gray-drab, and the endosome was yellow- 

 ish-brown. The consistency was very fragile. 



The surface is smooth and lipostomous. 



The ectosome of this species is so far removed from the endosome that 

 it seems questionable if there can be any connection. Yet, it is a typical 

 sponge ectosome, and nothing but an ectosome. It is about 40 p. to 400 /x 

 thick and fairly smooth and level, and it was very noticeable at the time of 

 collection. It is stretched out over a large portion of the coral to which it 

 makes contact only here and there at the apices of the highest elevations of 

 the coral. Thus, there are large subdermal spaces beneath this ectosome, 



Text Figure No. 100. Car- 

 mia stegoderma. The upper 

 figure is a diagrammatic sec- 

 tion of the sponge, perpen- 

 dicular to the surface, NOT 

 drawn with camera lucida. 

 It is slightly enlarged. A: 

 The ectosome. B: Jagged 

 surface of coral, covered 

 with a thin layer of Carmia 

 endosome, which latter is 

 here indicated by dots. C: 

 The relatively enormous sub- 

 dermal spaces. The spicules, 

 illustrated in the lower por- 

 tion of the figure, are all 

 X 782. D: Two of the larg- 

 er anisochelas, front and side 

 views. E: Exceedingly thin, 

 smaller anisochela. F: Toxa. 

 G: Head end only, of one of 

 the tylostyles. 



