402 PROCEEDIXaS or the national museum. vol.37. 



extreme tenuity of its skeleton fibers and by the fact that the 

 branches are never cyHndrical but always compressed. Wlien well 

 developed they anastomose. For this form, which I think should be 

 regarded as a subspecies, the name reticulata "• is available. Young 

 specimens are, however, difficult to distinguish from some European 

 and North American forms of S. lacustris. S. jjroliferens, another 

 common Indian species closely allied to S. lacustris, is easily dis- 

 tinguished by the tubular character of the aperture of the gemmules. 

 In the collection sent me for examination from the U. S. National 

 Museum there is a bottle of specimens labeled "Lake Titicaca, Peru. 

 R. E. Coker (506). VII. 31. 08. From Peruvian Government. Ace. 

 No. 49549." Unfortunately, the sponges in the bottle are devoid of 

 gemmules, and as there is nothing distinctive about their slender, 

 smooth, amphioxous skeleton spicules, it is impossible to identify the 

 species. There are no free microscleres. Probably this sponge 

 belongs to the subgenus Euspongilla. 



Subgenus SPONGILLA Wierzejski. 



SPONGILLA FRAGILIS Leidy. 



Spongilla frngilis Leidy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1851, p. 278. — 

 Potts, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia ("Monograph"), 1887, p. 197, 

 pi. 5, fig. 2; pi. 8, figs. 1-4. 



Spongilla decipiens V^eber, Zool. Ergebn. Niederland. Ost. Ind., vol. 1, p. 40, 

 pi. 4. 



There are specimens in the collection from the mouth of Echo 

 River, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (W. P. Hay), as well as from other 

 North American localities. I have recently recorded this species 

 from Japan;'' it also occurs in Calcutta, whence the large series of 

 specimens now in the Indian Museum seems to afford a complete 

 transition between S. fragilis and Weber's 8. dedpiens, which must 

 therefore be regarded as a synonym. My S. crassissima, of which 

 S. crassior is no more than a variety, is distinguished from S. fragilis 

 mainly by its extremely hard and compact skeleton. It is sometimes 

 found in the same pond as Leidy 's species. 



Genus EPHYDATIA Lamouroux. 



EPHYDATIA CRATERIFORMIS (Potts). 



Meyeniu cratcrij'ormiti Potts, Monogr., p. 228, ])!. 9, fig. G; pi. 10, fig. 5. 

 Ephydntia indica Annandale, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 1907, p. 20; Rec. Ind 

 Mils., vol. 1, p. 272. 

 This species, wliich is well represented in the U. S. National Mu- 

 seum collection, is interesting for two reasons: (a) its peculiar dis- 

 tribution, and (?>) the fact that its varieties and phases afford an 

 almost complete bridge between the genera Spongilla and Ephydatia. 



a Annandale, Rec. Ind. Mus., vol. 1, p. 387, pi. 14, fig. 1. 

 &Annot. Zool. Jap., vol. 2, j). 106, ])1. 2, fig. 1. 



