[CEYLON PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES- 1905 SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS, No. XVIII. | 



REPORT 



ON THE 



SPONGES 



COLLECTED BY 



PROFESSOR HERDMAN, AT CEYLON, m 1902. 



BY 

 ARTHUR BENDY, D.Sc., F.L.S, 



PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLLEGE, CAPE TOWN. 



[WITH PLATES I. TO XVL] 



INTRODUCTION. 



CONSIDERING the frequent opportunities for collecting which have been afforded by the 

 Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon, it is remarkable that our knowledge of the Sponge-Fauna 

 of this locality, rich and varied as it is, should so long have remained in so backward 

 a condition. In 1887, Mr. RIDLEY and I (1)* called attention to this fact in our 

 Report on the Monaxonida collected by H.M.S. "Challenger," but as the "Challenger" 

 unfortunately did not visit Ceylon, the results of that memorable voyage did nothing 

 towards improving matters in this respect. In the same year, however, as that in 

 which our " Challenger " Report was published, I was able to report (2) also upon a 

 collection of sponges from Madras, made by Mr. EDGAR THURSTON, the Superintendent 

 of the Government Central Museum, and again in 1889 I reported (3) on a second 

 collection of sponges made by the same Zoologist in the Gulf of Manaar. In this 

 way considerable additions were made to our knowledge of the Sponge-Fauna of 

 Ceylon and Southern India, but Mr. CARTER'S papers (4, 5) on the sponges collected in 

 the Gulf of Manaar by Captain W. H. CAWNE WARREN still remained the principal 

 works on the subject ; a very remarkable fact, when we remember the extraordinarily 



* The numbers in brackets refer to the List of Literature at the end of the Report. 



I 



