102 BULLETIN 125, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



STYLOPOMA SPONGITES Pallas, 1766. 



Plate 17, figs. 1-12. 



17G6. Eschara spongites Pallas, Elenchus Zoophytorum, p. 45. 



1797. Cellepora spongites Esper, Die PflanzentMere, p. 242, pi. 111. 



1803. Eschara spongites Moll, Die Seerinde aus der Ordnung der Pflanzenthiere, Wien.pl., figs. 3A, 



3B. 

 1821. Cellepora spongites Lamoueoux, Exposition methodique des genres de Polypiers, p.41, fig. 3. 

 1845. Cellepora informata Lonsdale, Report on the Corals from the Tertiary formations of North 



America, Quarterly Journal Geological Society London, vol. 1, p. 505 (text fig.). 

 1857. Reptocelleporaria informata Tuomey and Holmes, Pliocene Fossils of South Carolina, p. 15, 



pi. 4, figs. 11, 12. 

 1862. Reptocelleporaria informata Gabb and Horn, Monograph Polyzoa Secondary and Tertiary 



formations of North America, Journal Academy Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, ser. 2, 



vol. 5, p. 132. 

 1872. Hippothoa spongites Smitt, Floridan Bryozoa, pt. 2, Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens 



HandUngar, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 42, pi. 8, figs. 161-163. 

 1889. Schizoporella spongites Jelly, Sj-nonymic Catalogue of Marine Bryozoa, p. 234 (bibliography). 

 1904. Schizoporella informata Ulrich and Bassler, Bryozoa, Maryland Geological Survey, Miocene, 



p. 419, pi. 114, figs. 6-10. 

 1909. Schizoporella spongites Levinsen, Morphological and Systematic Studies on the CheiJosto- 



matous Bryozoa, p. 323, pi. 18, figs. 3, 4 {Stylopoma spongites on plate). 

 1914. Schizoporella spongites Osburn, The Bryozoa of the Tortugas Islands, Publication Carnegie 



Institution of Washington, no. 182, p. 207. 

 1919. Stylopoma spongites Canu and Bassler, Geology and Paleontology of the West Indies, 



Bryozoa, Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, no. 291, p. 91, pi. 1, fig .13. 



,, ^ » i fAa = 0.14 mm. „ . fZ2 = 0.50 mm. 



Measurements. — Apertura , . ^. /ooecia , _ _ . 



^ I Za = 0.10 mm. [ Z2 = 0.36 mm. 



Historical. — The bibliography pubUshed by Miss Jelly in 1889 was determined 

 by Smitt, 1872, and appears inexact to us. Tliis species is absolutely restricted to 

 the Gulf of Mexico. By what chance could it have fallen into the hands of the 

 eighteenth century authors ? Certainly the species which they figured is the Schizo- 

 podrella unicornis Johnston, 1847, or ScMzopodrella longirostris Hincks, 1886, which 

 also present large multilamellar and spongy zoaria. We believe that the name of 

 Lonsdale, 1845, would be preferable. 



Variations. — The ovicell of this species is quite remarkable; a superb study 

 was made by Levinsen, 1909. An ordinary polypide forms the zooecium. It 

 degenerates and is replaced by a female polypide which forms the ovicell above the 

 distal zooecium and the apertura. It is deprived of tentacles which could scarcely 

 issue from the special orifice of the ovicell. The passage of the eggs is thus assured 

 in a positive fashion. The escape of the larvae operates as in the species of the 

 genus ScMzopodrella by the rupture of the membrane which closes the ovicell. 



The variations of this species are extraordinary. The avicularium is present or 

 absent, large or small. The zooecia are long or short, narrow or swollen, even 

 transverse. Frequently they are oriented in all directions. 



The zoaria contain a large number of lamellae piled one on another; their 

 dimensions reach a length of 5 centimeters. The larvae are fastened on shells, on 

 other bryozoa, and more frequently on the fronds of small algae. 



