THE SPONGES OF THE WEST-CENTRAL PACIFIC 253 



Text Figure No. 177. Spicule (spheraster) of Chondrilla grandistellata, X 782. 



This species is cake-shaped, 2 cm in thickness and 10 cm in diameter for 

 typical size. 



The exterior color in life was drab and was especially pale around the 

 oscules which, being dark, were conspicuous. The endosome was also pale 

 drab. The consistency was cartilaginous. 



The surface is shiny smooth, and the pores could not be made out. The 

 oscules are conspicuous as dark spots, even when closed, and are about 2 cm 

 apart, probably as much as 1 mm in diameter when fully opened. 



The ectosome is packed with large spicules and is about 200 ^ thick. The 

 endosome is cartilaginous and contains a much smaller number of the spicules. 



The skeleton comprises, in addition to the usual cartilaginous jelly, 

 enormous spherasters, 130 fi in diameter, with very blunt terminations to the 

 rays. These terminations are distally spined. 



This very distinctive species was first described by Thiele, 1900, page 65, 

 from the East Indies, for which region of the world it appears to be dis- 

 tinctive. 



