FEESH- WATER SPONGES IN THE COLLECTION OF THE 

 UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.— FART I. 

 SPECIMENS FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND AUS- 

 TRALIA. 



By Nelson Annandale, 

 Superintendent of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 



The collection of Spongillinae in the United States National 

 Museum consists very largely of specimens named by Mr. Edward 

 Potts, whose Monograph of the Fresh-water Sponges ** must ever 

 remain a classical Avork on the group. Since ]\Ir. l*otts gave up active 

 work on the sponges, however, a considerable number of specimens 

 have been added, which the authorities of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution have been kind enough to send me for examination. As 

 these specimens are accompanied by duplicates of all the named 

 American species in the collection, and as the Indian Museum pos- 

 sesses an almost complete set of the species recorded from Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa, I hope that it nu\y ultimately be possible for me 

 to determine all those that are determinable. In the meanwhile, 

 stress of official work renders it difficult for me to attack the Ameri- 

 can species, and I propose, therefore, to deal separately with those 

 from the Philippines and Australia. 



Genus SPONGILLA. 

 Subgenus ETJSPONGILLA Vejdovsky. 

 SPONGILLA SCEPTRIOIDES Haswell. 



BpongiUa srrpirioidcs IIaswki.i., Proc I/mii. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1SS2, p. 

 209.— V. Lendknfeld, Zool. Jalirbiieher, II, 1SS7, p. 89. 



Haswell's original description is very brief, and Lendenfeld adds 

 little of importance to it. There is a specimen in the collection under 

 review which is labeled, " Fresh water Sponge with winter eggs 

 Queensland, Australia Apr. 4-". This, I believe, to represent Has- 

 well's species, although I have had some doubts as to the identity. 

 It will be well, therefore, to describe the specimen in some detail. 



"Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1887. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXVI— No. 1690. 



627 



