424 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
in shape, texture, strength, and softness. (Pl. Lxv.) It is a massive, cake- 
shaped sponge, attached by a broad base, always broader than high and never 
‘‘pineapple-shaped” as its American relative frequently is. The surface is 
fairly uniform, with the lamelle superficially expanded and often forming nar- 
row reticular bridges across subsurface cavities. The surface is covered with 
small rather blunt tufts or pencils of fiber, particularly around the edges of 
the numerous polygonal, circular, or meandering openings. The oscula are scat- 
tered over the upper part of the sponge, usualiy opening on the general surface, 
but occasionally surrounded by a rampart of fibers which produce a very short 
oscular tube. The general superficial aspect of this sponge is intermediate 
between the sheepswool and the velvet, being much less shaggy than the former 
and rougher and less meandriform than the latter. In surface appearance it 
somewhat resembles the Florida wire sponge. Certain sheepswool sponges which 
the author has artificially grown from cuttings in the Florida Keys reproduce 
quite accurately the surface texture of the honeycomb sponge. 
The honeycomb sponge is quite generally distributed throughout the Med- 
iterranean, being found from the Gulf of Lyons along the north, east, and south 
shores as far as the Algerian coast. It is known commercially from the vicin- 
ity of Marseilles, Corsica, the Adriatic, the Archipelago, the coasts of Asia 
Minor, Egypt, Tripoli and Tunis, Crete, Cyprus, Lampedusa, the Dardanelles 
and the Red Sea. The best are the Mandruka sponges, which are compact, 
soft, and fine, but those from Tunis, Crete and Asia Minor are little inferior and 
many of them enter the markets as Mandrukas. The Tripolitan honeycomb 
sponges are rough, coarse, and loose in texture, and those from the Archipelago 
are but little better. 
As has been before stated, one of the yellow sponges of American waters 
is considered zoologically identical with the honeycomb, and the variety is also 
known from Australia and New Zealand, those I have seen from the former 
locality being harsh, open, coarse, and decidedly inferior to any known com- 
mercially. 
As compared with American sponges, the Mandruka is softer than any 
except the Matecumbe sheepswool, but it is less durable than the Rock 
Island sheepswool, less resilient, and more quickly loses its elasticity in use. It 
is a popular bath sponge, for which its size and shape makes it excellent, but 
is being displaced in the American markets by the more generally superior 
sheepswool. These sponges are also used in the arts, by jewelers and silver- 
smiths, leather manufacturers, and as desk sponges for bank tellers, etc. 
ELEPHANT-EAR SPONGES. 
These are the Euspongia officinalis lamella of Schulze and are either cup- 
shaped or cap-shaped with rather thin walls of uniform thickness or a more or 
