272 N. Annandale : Notes on Freshwater Sponges. [VoL. I, 



round the pore by their extremities. The nucleus and cytoplasm 

 of such cells do not differ from those of cells that apparently 

 contain an intracellular pore. I am inclined to believe, therefore, 

 that even in the latter instance the pore is not reall}' intracellular, 

 but is surrounded by an originally' crescent-shaped cell, the two ends 

 of which have fused together. I have not been able to detect any 

 trace of true porocytes in connection with the ciliated chambers in 

 any species examined 



v.— The Systp:matic Position of Ephydatia meyeni, 

 Carter, and E. indica, mihi. 



As these are the only species of the genus that I have been 

 able to find in Calcutta, my conclusions as to their specific and 

 generic identity, after examining a large number of specimens, 

 may be useful to others studying the group. E. meyeni was des- 

 cribed in 1849 by Carter, who in 1881 stated that he believed it 

 to be a variety of the widely distributed E. fluviatilis. Weltner 

 {Archiv. /. Nahirg., Ixvi (i), p. 124, 1895), however, assigned it to 

 E. miilleri (Liebk.). During the present season I have found a form 

 that agrees closely with Carter's descriptions, growing in the Museum 

 tank in Calcutta. Its gemmule spicules have long shafts with 

 scattered spines, but their rotulse are very irregularly serrated ; as 

 a rule the spicules surround the gemmules in two rows. The 

 skeleton spicules are smooth and sharp, and although the skeleton 

 is rather fragile, it is hard, and spongin webs can be detected at 

 its nodes. An important character was necessarily passed over by 

 Weltner, who had only examined a dry specimen of this form, viz., 

 the presence of large numbers of vesicular cells in the parenchyma. 

 These agree closely with Weltner's figure {Archiv. f. Naturg., 

 lix (i), pi. viii, fig. 14) of a cell of this kind from the parenchyma 

 of E. fluviatilis, and as their presence is recognized to be diagnos- 

 tic of E. fluviatilis, I believe that Carter was right in regarding E. 

 meyeni as belonging to this species ; it should therefore be called 

 E. fluviatilis var. meyeni. Weiy possibly E. robusta (Potts) from 

 North America is identical with this form. 



E. indica, described by myself in 1907 {Journ. Asiat. Soc. 

 Bengal, 1907, p. 20) is an interesting form as being to some extent 

 intermediate between the genera Ephydatia and Spongilla. Even 

 in the best developed specimens the rotulae of the gemmule spicules 

 are small and inconspicuous, consisting merely of a ring of spines 

 but little difterentiated from those that occur on the shafts. The 

 spicules are arranged, however, in the upright position common in 

 gemmules of Ephydatia, and the whole appearance not only of the 

 gemmules but of the sponge itself resembles that of other species 

 of this genus. Numerous specimens were obtained b}^ Mr. R. Kirk- 

 patrick and myself in a tank on the Calcutta maidan in May last. 

 On examination these specimens proved to dift'er in several points 

 from the types of the species. In the first place, the skeleton 

 spicules were sharply pointed and distinctly inflated at the ends 



