AKT. 4 



SPONGES OF CALIFORNIA de LAUBENFELS 



59 



it might be referred to recognizably in future revision. This action 

 may be better understood after noting the following considerations : 



In 1827, Grant described Spon(jia san guinea^ a thin, blood-red 

 sponge. It was probably not just one species but several having sim- 

 ilar color and styles as megascleres. Grant lacked microscopic 

 equipment adequate for the discovery of microscleres. In 1828, Flem- 

 ing (p. 521) referred this to his genus Halichondria. In 1842 

 (p. 134), Johnston 

 so identified speci- 

 mens he had that 

 were preserved in 

 the British Mu- 

 seum. He also 

 gave figures and a 

 fairly good de- 

 scription. Practi- 

 cally the only dif- 

 ference between his 

 ■sanguinea and siii- 

 apium is in color. 

 H. sanguinea was 

 from British wa- 

 ters. 



In 1859, Lieber- 

 kiihn described 

 Halichond/Ha lux- 

 urlans; this was 

 redescribed in 1862 

 (p. 76) by Oscar 

 Schmidt as Ren- 

 iera luxurians. 

 Schmidt says that 

 this is R enter a 

 vm^iabilis of Nar- 

 do, an utterly un- 

 recognizable species, so devoid of description as to be properly a 

 nomen nudein. I mention luxurians because, so far as Lieberkiihn's 

 and Schmidt's descriptions go, this may be the same as sinapiuvi; 

 but we do not know the spicule size, nor is the structure well de- 

 scribed. R. luxurians is a Mediterranean species. 



In 1862 (p. 1111), Bowerbank described Hymeniacidon caruncula, 

 the type of this genus. It differs from sinapium only in having 

 much smaller spicules. Bowerbank described them as 218/^, and 

 the specimens I collected at Plymouth had then only about 120 to 



Figure 29. — Hymeniacidon sinapium de Laubenfels, X300 



