236 Guide to Belfast. 



catenata Forbes are recorded by Thompson as having been 

 found off Whitehead, County i\ntrim, and this species has 

 been subsecjuently recorded from Belfast Lough by Hincks. 

 Virgi/Ian'a minxbilis Miill. has been often dredged in Belfast 

 Lough. 



Ctenophora. — Since the late Mr. R. Patterson con- 

 tributed various papers on our native species, the study of 

 this small group has been much neglected in Ireland, and 

 very few specimens have been collected on the N. E. coast. 



A. R. N. 

 PORIFERA. 



A considerable number of Sponges have been found on 

 the coasts of Antrim and Down. Most of the common 

 and widely-distributed species and a few of the rarer forms 

 are mentioned in Thompson's Natural History of Irela/id, 

 vol. iv. Several additional species are recorded in a List 

 of Irish Sponges by Dr. E. P. Wright,^ and by J. S. 

 Bowerbank^ and A. M. Norman. Strangford Lough affords 

 exceedingly good dredging-ground for sponges, and in 

 certain parts the bottom is said to be almost entirely 

 covered with these animals. Many species have been 

 obtained in this lough by Dr. Dickie and Norman, some 

 of which have not as yet been found elsewhere. 



The nomenclature is that given by Hanitsch in " Revision 

 of the Generic Nomenclature and Classification in Bower- 

 bank's ' British Spongiada^.' "^ 



Calcarea. — Leucosolenia botryoides is generally distri- 

 buted on the coasts of Antrim and Down, usually on fuci 

 and hydroids ; Z. coriacea and L. laaniosa have also been 

 obtained on these coasts. Sycon compressiim and S. ciliatum 

 are common and widely distributed. Sycandra vil/osa, 

 Leucandra fstulosa, L. nivea, L. fo/instoni, and Ascaiidi-a 

 variabilis are recorded from Strangf-^rd Lough, and A. Iwtrys 

 from Portrush. 



1 E. P. Wright. — Notes on Irish Sponges, part i. A List of the .Species. 

 Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., x, 1870. pp. 221-228. 



2 J. S. BowERB.'VNK. — A Monograph of the British Spongiadae, vols, i-iii, 

 1 864- 1 874 ; and vol. iv, (ed. by \. M. Norman), 1882. 



3 Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc, vol. viii, 1894, pp. 173-206. 



