140 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 272 



in this coat in one layer; foramen produced into a short and conical 

 porus tube. 



Distribution. — Apparently known only from the type locality, 

 the Amazon R. 



Color in life. — Not yet observed; dry sponge recorded as light 

 brown. 



Discussion. — Gee (1932b) drew attention to the fact that, contrary 

 to Carter's (1881) observations, the type material of this species con- 

 tains only one type of gemmoscleres. Our reexamination of the type 

 and syntype slides equally failed to find the smaller type described by 

 Carter, although a few gemmoscleres are slightly frailer than the 

 majority examined. 



Gee (1932b), while comparing the differing length range of gemmo- 

 scleres present in T. latouchiana and T. latouchiana sinensis, respec- 

 tively, suggested a possible future relegation of that group of sponges 

 to synonyms of T. paulula. However, the present studies revealed 

 that the length of gemmoscleres in the T. latouchiana group cannot be 

 considered a constant criterion, since many intergrading conditions can 

 be found, and that their mean length of gemmoscleres is considerably 

 below that found in T. paulula. A further distinguishing character is 

 the upper rotule, which in the T. latouchiana group is only slightly 

 smaller than the lower, whereas in the South American species it is 

 drastically reduced to a rudimentary disk. The separation of T. paulula 

 from its Chinese and Indian congeners is therefore fully justified, 

 even though future collections of the insufficiently known South 

 American species may yet demonstrate the possibility of their sub- 

 specific discrimination. 



Trochospongilla latouchiana Annandale, 1907 



Plate 12, figures 9, 10 



Trochospongilla latouchiana Annandale, 1907c, p. 21; 1908b, p. 157; 1911c, p. 115; 



1918a, p. 201.— Gee, 1926c, p. 110; 1926a, p. 181; 1927a, p. 1; 1927b, p. 60; 



1928, p. 225; 1929d, p. 297; 1930a, p. 98; 1930e, p. 27; 1931e, p. 41; 1932b, 



p. 10; 1932f, p. 507; 1932c, p. 44.— Vorstman, 1927, p. 184; 1928, p. 116.— 



Rao, 1929, p. 269.— Arndt, 1932c, p. 566; 1936, p. 10.— Schroder, 1935, p. 



104.— Penney, 1960, p. 56. 

 Trochospongilla latouchiana subsp. sinensis Annandale, 1919b, p. 457. — Gee and 



Wu, 1925a, p. 226.— Gee, 1926a, p. 181; 1931e, p. 49; 1932b, p. 13. 

 Trochospongilla latouchiana var. pasigensis Gee, 1932b, p. 14; 1932f, 



p. 526; 1932c, p. 42.— Penney, 1960, p. 56. 



Material. — Shdes of types or syn types of all forms listed (IM, 

 USNM, N. Gist Gee) ; numerous specimens of T. latouchiana and T. I. 

 sinensis from India and China respectively (N. Gist Gee and AusM). 



Description. — Sponge forming comparatively shallow cushions, 

 ranging from insignificant sizes to extensive encrustations; surface 



