Fauna von Süd-Afrika. 567 



statobhist belongs is that tlie zooecia are narrow, delicate, encrusted 

 with iiiorgaiiic particles. not agglutinated togetlier or rising- from 

 the Support in a vertical position and parallel to one anotlier, but 

 apparently recumbent in the substance of the sponge. The species of 

 PlumateJla most commonly associated with sponges, both in Europe and 

 India, is P. fruticosa, the ^^coralloides'' phase of which appears to be 

 specially adapted for this mode of life, its tubules growing outwards 

 throiigh the substance of the sponge in such a way that their distal 

 extremities project from its surface, I do not think, however, that 

 the Plumatdla in Prof. Webee's specimens from the Cape belonged 

 to this species, which is more often found associated with sponges 

 of more vigorous growth such as S. carteri and S. Jacustris. In 

 specimens of an Ephydatia from Java, sent me by Prof. Weber, I 

 found flourishing colonies of P. javanica Keaepelin — a species 

 which also occurs in Calcutta — growing much in the same way 

 as the one in the S. African sponge of the same genus must have 

 done. 



Genus Ephydatia Gray. 



Ephydatia fluiriatilis auctorum. 



E. fluriatüis rar. capensis Kirkpateick, in: Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 

 Vol. 20, p. 523, fig. 1—8 (1907). 



Specimens obtained by Prof. Weber in the ßiver Komenassie 

 near Oudtshoorn, Cape Colony, should probably be assigned to 

 Kiekpatrick's recently described variety. Variation, however, is so 

 inconstant in this species that it is difficult to recognize "varieties". 

 The majority of the birotulates in Prof. Webee's specimens have 

 smooth shafts, but occasionally it is possible to find one in which 

 the shaft bears one or two long, stout spines standing out at right 

 angles to it. I have not seen a spicule, however, in which these 

 spines are so numerous or so regularly arranged as in one of those 

 figured by Kiekpateick (op. cit, fig. 7). In Prof. Webee's specimens 

 the skeleton spicules are smooth and the vesicular cells which form 

 so conspicuous a feature of Ephydatia mälleri and its Indian repre- 

 sentative E. meyeni Caetee, are absent. The following are the 

 measurements of the spicules in Prof. Webee's specimens: 



Skeleton spicule 0,340 mm X 0,013 mm 



Gemmule spicule (length) 0,024 mm 

 Diameter of rotule 0,018 mm 



