PANAMA SPONGES — DE LAXJBENFELS 445 



Balboa Harbor, and iiitertidally on rocks at Taboga Island, all on 

 the Pacific side. On the Atlantic side it was found groAving inter- 

 tidally on the coast at Fort Randolph, and one macerated specimen 

 was found cast on the beach at Fort Sherman. The distinctive blue 

 color and the ease with which a lamellate form is assumed are perhaps 

 its most characteristic features. 



Genus ADOCIA Gray 



ADOCIA CINEREA (Grant) 



The specimens thus identified are represented in the collection by 

 U.S.N. M. no. 22242, collected intertidally at Fort Randolph at the 

 Atlantic end of the canal, and no. 22210, from one of the piers in 

 Balboa Harbor at the Pacific end. The characteristic color in life 

 appears to be a beautiful lavender, but as in the case of Haliclona 

 permollis environmental factors may alter tliis in the direction of 

 drab. The consistency is crisply friable. The endosome is smooth 

 and is provided with a special reticulation of spicules, which, however, 

 are just like those of the endosome. They make a beautiful isodictyal 

 pattern, the apertures of which, about 300/x in diameter, are to be 

 interpreted as pores, 500^ apart, center to center. The oscules, which 

 are 2 to 3 mm in diameter, are usually on slightly raised processes, 

 but curiously enough are not always terminally placed. The endo- 

 some is an isodictyal reticulation of oxeas about lOju by 150)U to IS^i 

 by 200/x. 



Tliis is not the cosmopolitan sponge frequently referred to in the 

 Uterature as Reniera cinerea, but it bears a superficial resemblance to 

 it and may or may not have been confused with it by earlier authors. 

 Too little attention has been paid to the precise characters of the 

 dermis of sponges. Reinvestigation of museum specimens and fur- 

 ther collection may prove that Adocia cinerea is as nearly cosmopolitan 

 as is Haliclona permollis, the species frequently referred to as Reniera 

 cinerea. Both were originally described from European waters, the 

 former as Spongia cinerea by Grant (1827, p. 204), It was transferred 

 to Adocia by Burton (1934, p. 535). 



Genus TOXADOCIA de Laubenfels 



TOXADOCIA PROXIMA (Lundbeck) 



This amorphous sponge is represented in the collection by U.S.N.M. 

 no. 22222. It was collected intertidally on the rocks at Taboga 

 Island near the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. In fife it was 

 a pretty violet and very soft. The surface is even. There is an 

 isodictyal special dermal skeleton, not, however, containing any 

 special sort of spicules, nor is it readily detachable. The pores are 

 barely visible to the naked eye and occur about two to the square 

 miUimeter. The oscules are two in number, about 1.5 mm in diam- 



