A NEW SPONGE FROM THE NEW JERSEY CRETACEOUS. 



By Hervey W. Shimer and SroNEY Powers, 



Of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. 



Sponges have proved to be so rare in the Cretaceous rocks of 

 America that any contribution to the subject, however sHght, would 

 be worth while. The fossil which forms the subject of the present 

 paper is the only sponge which has been reported from the Cretaceous 

 of New Jersey, where it was collected by H. W. Shimer in the Mount 

 Laurel sandstone of Atlantic Highlands. This formation is composed 

 almost entirely of moderatel}^ coarse sand grains (silicarenite) and 

 glauconite. The age of the beds is Mount Laurel-Navesmk of the 

 upper part of the Cretaceous. 



The genus CceloptycJiium., to which it seems best to refer this 

 specimen, has heretofore been found only in the Upper Cretaceous of 

 Europe. Both Dr. T. W. Stanton and Prof. Stuart Weller, who have 

 very kindly examined the specimen, have reported that they know 

 of no sponge in North America with which it might be even generi- 

 cally associated. The following species were found associated with 

 this sponge: 



FORAMINIFERA. GASTROPODA. 



Nodosaria laevigata d'Orbigny. Anchura pennata Morton. 



Pelecypoda. Gastrochsena americana Gabb. 



Area rostellata Morton. Lunatia halli Gabb. 



Cardium spillmani Conrad. Pyrifusus macfarlandi Whitfield ? 



Cardium tenuistriatum Whitfield. Trachytriton atlanticum Whitfield. 



Crassatellites suhplanus (Conrad) Turbinopsis f elevata Whitfield. 



Cucullsea neglecta Gabb. Turritella vertebroides Morton. 

 Cucullsea tippana Conrad. Cephalopoda. 



Cyprimeria densata (Conrad). Baculites ovatv^ Say. 



Inoceramus confertim-annulat'us Roe- Belemnitella avuricana Morton. 



mer. Vertebrata. 



Ostrea mesenterica Morton. Fish vertebrae. 



Panopea decisa Coni-ad. Reptilian bones. 

 Tngonia thomcica Morton. 



Genus CCELOPTYCHIUM Goldfuss. 



C(ELOPTYCHIUM? JERSEYENSE, new species. 

 Plate 7. 

 Mushroomlike, contracting from a broad and depressed upper 

 surface into a short stalk. Edge of umbel rounded. Entire surface 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 46— No. 2019. 



155 



