19g12.] N. ANNANDALE and S. Kemp: Kumaon Lakes. 139 
near to E. robusta, exhibits certain peculiarities which seem to 
entitle it to be regarded as a distinct local race. For this new 
subspecies the name himalayensis is proposed. Many of the speci- 
mens are well preserved but I can detect no trace of ‘* bubble- 
cells ’’ in their parenchyma. 
E. fluviatilis subsp. himalayensis, may be distinguished from 
the typical form of the species by the following characters :— 
(i) The skeleton-spicules are very variable in length and 
usually rather slender. The majority are long. 
(ii) Scattered amongst the smooth skeleton-spicules of the 
ordinary type there are a few particularly slender 
ones which have, widely and sparsely scattered over 
the middle region, a comparatively small number of 
very minute spines, the tips being always smooth. 
(iii) The gemmule-spicules are somewhat variable in propor 
tions but as a rule rather shorter than is ordinarily 
the case in the species. Their rotulae are narrow 
and often almost regularly, although always deeply 
indented round the margin. The shafts are slender 
and either smooth or provided with a few compara- 
tively short spines. 
The external form of the sponge is very variable and seems to 
depend to a large extent on the nature of the object to which it is 
attached. Specimens growing on sleuder twigs at the surface form 
a compressed crest like a cockscomb, those attached to stones at 
the bottom spread out in a flat film of little depth, and those fixed 
to delicate water-weeds form irregular nodules. No large speci- 
mens were obtained, none having a superficial area of more than a 
few square centimetres. The specimens (dry and in spirit) have 
a faint yellowish colour. ‘They contained (in May) numerous well- 
formed gemmules. 
Habitat—Kumaon, W. Himalayas: Naukuchia Tal (4,000 
feet), Bhim Tal (4,450 feet), Sat ‘Tal (4,500 feet) and Naini Tal 
(0,400 feet) (Kemp, May, IQ11). 
In the possession of spined skeleton-spicules E. fluviatilis 
subsp. /imalayensis, resembles a form of the species which Weltner ! 
has recently described from Issyk-Kul in Turkestan. It does not 
possess, however, the monstrous amphistrongyli of the latter and 
appears to have less spongin in its skeleton. The external surface 
is also smoother and the canals are less capacious 
POLY ZOA. 
The following is a list of the polyzoa taken in the Kumaon 
lakes; the species have been described in my volume on the Fresh- 
| ‘* Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Fauna Turkestans—viil. Spongillidae des 
Issyk-Kul-Sees und des Baches bei Dschety-Ogus.’’ Travaux dela Société Imp. 
des Naturalistes de St. Pétevsburg, xiii, p. 63, text figures 8-39, and pl. I, figs. 1-7 
(1911). 
