REVISION OF FRESHWATER SPONGES OF SPONGILLIDAE 77 



The equally insufficiently known S. perviridis Annandale, unavail- 

 able for the present studies, has provisionally been relegated in this 

 paper to a doubtful synonym of S. cinerea until additional data become 

 available. It seems most likely that these two spongilUds are closely 

 related, even though they differ from each other in some less important 

 criteria, such as color in life and the density of spines on their 

 megascleres. 



Genus Pectispongilla Annandale, 1909 



Pedispongilla Annandale, 1909f, p. 103; 1911c, p. 106; 1912d, p. 384; 1915a, 

 p. 171; 1918a, p. 212.— Gee, 1931e, p. 46; 1932c, p. 35.— De Laubenfels, 

 1936, p. 35.— Penney, 1960, p. 8. 



Type species. — Pectispongilla aurea Annandale, 1909. 



Definition. — Megascleres fusiform amphioxea, ranging from micro- 

 spined to entirely smooth. 



Microscleres slender, microspined, fusiform, straight amphioxea; 

 often of two different size groups; occasionally spherasters also 

 present. 



Gemmoscleres very minute, cylindrical, and relatively stout, 

 possessing a feebly curved smooth shaft, and terminally a unilateral 

 arrangement of spines in the shape of a hairbrush. 



Gemmules minute, spherical and scattered through the skeletal 

 meshes; pneumatic layer distinctly granular, well developed; gemmo- 

 scleres embedded in this layer more or less radially, but often at a 

 slanting angle; foramen produced into a short porus tube. 



Sponges forming small cushions on solid support, coloration bright 

 yellow to golden. Consistency soft and fragile. 



Apparently restricted to SE. Asia and Austraha (Racek, MS.). 



Discussion. — This genus comprises three species, P. aurea, P. 

 stellifera, and P. subspinosa, the latter of which was elevated to 

 specific rank by Annandale (1915a). Another species, to be described 

 in a forthcoming paper (Racek, MS.), has since been found in Aus- 

 tralia. Spongilla sansibarica Weltner (1895) from Africa was con- 

 sidered by Annandale (1914) as belonging to this genus, a view 

 retained in subsequent works (Gee, 1931e, 1932c; Arndt, 1936; Penney, 

 1960). However, S. sansibarica does not display any affinities to 

 Pectispongilla species and is dealt with in the present paper under the 

 generic name of Radiospongilla. 



Pectispongilla aurea Annandale, 1909 



Plate 6, figures 11, 15, 17, 18 



Pectispongilla aurea Annandale, 1909f, p. 103; 1911c, p. 106; 1912d, p. 384; 1915a, 

 p. 171; 1918a, p. 212.— Gee, 1931e, p. 32; 1932c, p. 35.— Penney, 1960, 

 p. 9. 



