416 BULLETIN OF THL BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
Bahama velvet (pl. xLv1).—These bring the highest price, and the best, 
from near Abaco, are excellent sponges, very soft, of good shape, and moder- 
ately strong. 
Cuba velvet (pl. xivi1).—These somewhat resemble the Florida sponges 
and are about equal to them in quality, though softer and frequently with 
the pads less compact and more tufted or “‘frizzly.” 
Honduras velvet—The velvet sponges are the best that have been pro- 
duced, so far, in British Honduras. They resemble the Cuban sponges more 
closely than those from other localities and appear to be about equal to them 
in quality. The rollers are hard but attached specimens are usually soft. 
though not so strong as Bahama specimens. 
Jamaica velvet.—This differs much from the other velvet sponges. Its 
surface is more villous, the lamella less swollen on their free-edges, and the 
shape tends to uprightness rather than rotundity, the older specimens espe- 
cially being decidedly columnar. The most marked difference, however, is 
in the character of the vents, which instead of lying in subcircular septate 
depressions are grouped in single or double rows on the summits of branching 
crests which cross the tops of the sponges. The crests are formed of laciniated 
tufts somewhat like those which surround the vents or ‘‘eyes” of sheepswool 
sponges, and the individual openings are incompletely separated by ragged 
partitions as in the other velvet sponges. This arrangement results in a gash 
or tear more or less completely across the top of the skeleton. These sponges 
are harsher and otherwise inferior to the other velvet sponges. 
Other localities —This species is also known zoologically from Fernando 
de Noronha and Mauritius. A few inferior velvet sponges are taken on the 
Mexican coast but are usually included with the equally inferior sheepswool 
from that country. The few sponges taken about the island of Gonaves, off 
the west coast of Haiti, are principally of this species. 
GRASS SPONGES. 
Grass sponges are known commercially from Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, 
Mexico, and British Honduras. They exhibit great diversity of shape and 
texture, but are all inferior in quality, lacking in durability, usually harsh to 
the touch, or, if soft, exceedingly tender. Most of them appear to belong to 
Lendenfeld’s Hippospongia equina cerebrijormis, but it is by no means clear 
that they are all of this variety or that they can be assigned to Hyatt’s several 
varieties of his Spongia equina. None of the descriptions is sufficiently clear 
and complete to enable one to assign satisfactorily any large proportion of a 
considerable series. Following are the commercial varieties: 
Anclote grass (pl. xLv1i1).—These are the best of the grass sponges, but their 
shape is such that they are generally used as cuts. They are almost always 
