390 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



In this reticulum the spicules are so arranged as to form fibers or 

 lines that are radial to the surface (r. /.) There is the usual varia- 

 tion, however, and in the dried specimen from Togi'an Bay. while 

 the radial fibers are commonly 1-2 spicules thick, they are some- 

 times thicker, up to about 4 spicules. In the same specimen, the 

 connectives between the radial fibers, while they commonly have 

 the length of a single spicule (pi. 49„ fig. 1, c) may be twice as long; 

 and, while as a rule only one or two spicules thick, they may range 

 up to a thickness of 4 spicules. The dermal reticulum is merely the 

 outermost part of the skeletal reticulum, the meshes 4 or 3 sided, 

 the side formed usually by one spicule. In both skeletal and 

 dermal reticulum, spongin is scanty, only conspicuous in the angles. 

 In several parts of the Togian Bay specimens single spicules, or 

 bunches of two, radiate outward from the nodes of the dermal re- 

 ticulum. 



The longitudinal tracts are connected with the finer reticulum. 

 In transverse sections of the sponge they may be seen to meet the 

 reticulum at points (nodes) where several spicules come together. 



The oxeas, smooth, slightly curved, evenly tapering at both ends, 

 measure 160-180 by 8-9 p.; sigmas 18-20 jjl long, abundant in the 

 interior and dermal membrane. 



Holotype.— Cat. No. 21329, U.S.N.M. 



GELLIUS ANGULATUS (Bowerbank), var. VASIFORMIS. new variety. 



Plate 40, fig. 4. 



Halichondria angulata Bowerbank 1866, p. 233; 1874, p. 101. 

 Oellius angulatus (Bowerbank) Ridley and Dendy, 1887, p. 44. — Topsent„ 

 1S92, p. 76; 1904, p. 231.— Lundbeck, 1902, p. 63. 



This North Atlantic species is a massive, apparently small, 

 sponge; main skeleton is a rather irregular renieroid reticulum, oc- 

 casionally multispicular; dermal reticulum unispicular. Ridley 

 and Dendy give the spicular dimensions as follows : oxea 290-340 by 

 9-10 [x; toxa 80 by 1 [x; sigma 19 by 1 \l. Topsent (1904) in some of 

 the specimens from the Azores finds the oxeas unusually large, 

 530-550 by 9-13 ja; the sharply angulated toxas 73 \i long; sigmas 

 17 \i long. 



Dendy (1905, p. 136) refers a small massive Ceylon sponge to a 

 variety (canaliculata, new variety) of this species. Main skeleton a 

 unispicular reticulum: dermal skeleton composed of scattered oxeas 

 placed tangentially. Oxea about 250 by 8-10 pi; toxa, shorter and 

 stouter than in the type, sharply angulated in the middle, up ro 

 44 [x in length; sigma, simply contort, about 28 pi long. Surface of 

 sponge shows ramifying canals just beneath dermal membrane, 

 running to oscula of moderate size at one end of body. 



