456 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.83 



While in Panama I met an elderly Greek gentleman named Kefalos 

 who claimed to have been a sponge fisherman in his younger days and 

 to have collected and sold commercial sponges from the vicinity of 

 Panama on both coasts, though more commonly from the Atlantic 

 side. On the Pacific side I met a professional shark fisherman who 

 claimed to have seen a few commercial sponges, although none could 

 be found at that time. The evidence would appear to show that 

 there was little economic importance to be attached to sponge fisheries 

 from this immediate neighborhood, as commercial sponges do not 

 exist in great enough abundance. 



This species was collected on the coast at Fort Randolph on the 

 Atlantic Coast of Panama near the north end of the Canal. 



Genus TRYPESPONGIA de Laubenfels 



TRYPESPONGIA COLUMBIA de Laubenfels 



This species is represented in the collection by U.S.N.M. no. 22243. 

 It was collected on the coast at the Atlantic side of the Canal 

 Zone at Fort Randolph. In shape it is an amorphous mass. It 

 was drab in hfe. Its consistency is exceedingly spongy. The 

 surface conules are less than 1 mm high and are 1 mm apart, more or 

 less. The abundant oscules are about 1 mm in diameter and are 

 scattered in irregular groups. In the groups they are only 2 or 3 mm 

 apart, but the groups themselves are 2 or 3 cm apart. The interior is 

 strongly reticulate, with ascending fiber reaching 65)U in diameter, 

 containing some foreign material in addition to the spongin. The 

 more abundant secondary fibers are about 25m in diameter and con- 

 tain no foreign material. There is some detritus, especially broken 

 foreign spicules, scattered loosely in the flesh. The histological struc- 

 ture of this species is very remarkable. The protoplasmic portions 

 are arranged in thin sheets, only about 25m to 35m thick, which are 

 arranged haphazard without any very definite pattern but crowded 

 fairly close together. Those structures, which correspond obviously 

 to flagellate chambers in ordinary sponges, are httle more than 

 apertures or oval holes through these sheets, 30m to 40m in diameter. 



It is not known whether the species is important commercially. It 

 was described from the West Indies by deLaubenfels (1936, p. 13). 



Genus HIRCINIA Nardo 



HIRCINIA CAMPANA (Lamarck) 



This species is represented in the collection by U.S.N.M. no. 22248. 

 It grows abundantly in shallow water near Fort Sherman at the 

 Atlantic end of the Panama Canal. The tj^pical shape is a vaselike 

 form, frequently 20 cm high. The color in life is reddish brown, the 

 consistency tough and spongy. It is coarsely conulose, with the 

 conules 1 mm high and about 3 mm apart. The abundant oscules 



