1914-] N. Annandale : Fauna Symhiotica Indica. 151 



tubular Haplosclerid Reniera implexa, Schmidt, was found on a 

 shell of the same mussel. This sponge will probably be discovered 

 in all warm and tropical seas ; it has been recorded from the 

 Adriatic, the West Indies, Ceylon and the Red Sea, and I have 

 examined specimens from a rock-pool on the island of Bombay. 

 Its bathymetrical range is also great: — from between tide-marks 

 to at least 450 fathoms. 



No burrowing sponge was found in oysters or mussels in the 

 Madras harbour, but I have a specimen of Cliona celata, Hancock, 

 in a chank shell [Turhinella pyrum, L ) from the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the town ; it was presented to me by Professor 

 Ramunni Menon. 



Genus Mycalc, Gray. 



Mvcdle, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1867, p. 533; Thiele, Ah/i. Senckenb. Nat. 



Gesellsch. KKV, p. (j^g 11903); I.undbeck, Dan. ' higolf -Exp. VI, 



pt. 2. pp. 7, 23 (1905). 

 Esperia, Nardo, his, 1833, p. 522. 

 Esperella, Vosmaer, Bro)ins Thiei-reichs, Porifera, p. 353 (1885) ; Ridley, 



Rep. Zool. ' Cliallenger' XXII (LIX) (Monaxonida). p. 62 (1887); 



Dendy, Herdmans Ceylon Pearl Fish. Ill, p. 159 (1905); Row, 



Jonrn. lAiiu. Soc. (Zool.) XXXI, p. 33 (1911 1, 



/ 

 Mycale aegagropila (Johnston). 



Esperella aegagropila, Vosmaer and Pckelhannii, \'erh. K. Akad. Wet. 

 Amsterdam VI (2), p. 17 (1897). 



var. militarist nov. 

 (Plate X, fig. 2.) 



In the structure of their skeleton and soft parts and in the 

 general form of their spicules my specimens from mussel-shells in 

 Madras harbour agree well with Vosmaer and Pekelhering's des- 

 cription. 



The sponge in these specimens forms a film not more than 

 2 mm. thick. In life it is of a bright scarlet colour owing to the 

 presence of symbiotic algae in the parenchyma. In spirit these 

 minute organisms turn of a dull green colour. The lengths of the 

 spicules of my specimens are as follows ; their forms are shown 

 in figs. 2, 2a, pi. x: — 



Megascleres, o'2^y mm. (average) : 0^24 to 0-27 



(extremes). 

 Anisoschelae, 0*044 ii^m. (very uniform). 

 Sigmata, about 0'095 mm. 

 Toxa, 0'i48 to o'2 mm. 



The microscleres of all forms are somewhat scarce. 

 Type No. Z.E.V. "V'- Ind. Mus. 



Locality. — Madras harbour in 4 to 6 feet of water ; on living 

 shells of Mytikis latus, Lam. 



