PANAMA SPONGES — DH LAUBENFELS 457 



are located chiefly or entirely on the interior of the vase. The prin- 

 cipal spongin tracts are fascicular and coarse, and among them are 

 many filaments of a substance resembling, but perhaps not the same 

 as, spongin, about in thick, with swollen heads 5/z or Qn thick at each 

 end, the total length being frequently more than 1 mm. 



This species was described as Spongia caTrfpana by Lamarck (1814, 

 p. 385) from the West Indies, where it is one of the most abundant 

 and typical sponges. 



HIRCINIA VARIABILIS (Schmidt) 



t 



This species is represented in the collection by U.S.N.M. no. 22249. 

 It grows abundantly in shallow water near Fort Sherman at the 

 Atlantic end of the Panama Canal. The shape is amorphous to 

 encrusting, with digitate processes occasionally rising from the main 

 mass. The color in life is greenish brown, and the consistency is 

 tough and spongy. The conules are small, only about 0.5 mm high 

 and 1 to 2 mm apart. The oscules are exceedingly conspicuous, not 

 only because they have collars raised about them, but because the 

 tissues immediately within them are very dark. The fascicular 

 tracts and filaments are very much like those in the preceding species. 



This may not be exactly the same species as that first described as 

 Filifera variabilis by Schmidt (1862, p. 34), a Mediterranean form, 

 but it does not seem appropriate to establish a new name for it at 

 the present time. The form occurring at Panama is exceedingly 

 abundant throughout the entire West Indian region. 



Genus HALICLONA Grant 



HALICLONA ERINA, new species 



Holotype.— U.S. ISIM. no. 22245. 



This species was found growing intertidally on the Atlantic coast 

 of Panama at Fort Randolph. The shape is amorphous to encrusting. 

 The color in life was a brilliant green. The consistency is mediocre, 

 with a notable lack of any special dermal skeleton, a lack entirely 

 typical of the genus Haliclona. The endosome in places shows an 

 isodictyal reticulation, and elsewhere there are vague ascending 

 tracts about six spicule rows thick, or even as much as 50|U thick. 

 The flagellate chambers are spherical, about 30^ in diameter. The 

 only type of spicule present is a sharp-pointed oxea, but the variation 

 in size is greater than is customary in the genus Haliclona, somewhat 

 like that of Halichondria. The spicules range from as small as 3/x by 

 120m to as large as lO/x by 200^. Because of the surface structure, 

 however, the identification is made with Haliclona, within which 

 genus, in addition to various minute differences, the bright green 



