known Species of Spongilla. 101 



sent to England are very large. 2nd. That sent by Mr. George 

 Higgin to his brother, Mr. Thomas H. Higgin, F.L.S., of 

 Liverpool, the former took from the " rapids " of the river 

 Uruguay, above the town of Salto, " 200 or 300 miles " from 

 the sea in the delta of the Parana ; in which " rapids " the 

 amount of water is subject to such great alteration in quantity 

 that, when Mr. Higgin found it, the stream was confined to 

 the " cracks in the rock," while when he returned to the spot 

 again it was " 40 feet deep." The specimen sent to Liver- 

 pool is still adherent to the piece of rock on which it grew ; 

 and all the other specimens of the sponge that Mr. Higgin 

 saw at this spot were of the same kind. 3rd. In none of the 

 specimens sent to England has the statoblast been seen, or 

 any other trace of reproductive organs, although the size of 

 the specimens evidences full growth, and the circumstances 

 connected with them, viz. their presence in a river subject to 

 great alteration in the size of the stream, and at a great dis- 

 tance from salt water, supply all that is required for a 

 genuine freshwater sponge, ^th. The characters of the 

 sponge above given are unique, although the hardness and 

 rigidity of the skeletal structure seems to find a kinship with 

 that of Tuhella reticulata and Parmula Batesii &c., from the 

 river Amazons, as before intimated, if not also with Sjpongilla 

 nitens^ whose locality is at present unknown. 



With reference to the " leaden " colour of the surface, it is 

 worthy of remark that this is not only confined to the surface, 

 liading off into the white structure of the interior a little below 

 it, but in the same branch may abruptly meet the faint 

 whitish-yellow colour which the whole sponge may present on 

 other occasions. The cause of this diversity in colour must 

 be explained by future observation. 



Of the specimens of this sponge known to me, one is in the 

 Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, which Dr. Bower- 

 bank states is labelled " near Salto Grande, above Paysandu," 

 presented by Mr . W. Bragge (No. 20, p. 23) ; but when 

 i)r. Bowerbank adds that this place is on a tributary of the 

 upper part of the river Amazons, it is evidently a mistake ; for 

 Salto and Paysandu are on the river Uruguay. Another 

 specimen is in the British Museum, labelled " Freshwater 

 sponge from Paraguay. Presented by R,. McAndrew. Register 

 no. 72. 11. 13. 1 ; running no. 622." A third is in the Liver- 

 pool Free Museum, viz. that sent to his brother by Mr, George 

 Higgin, to which I have alluded ; and a fourth is part of a 

 specimen sent by Dr. Garland of Dublin to the same museum, 

 which differs from all the rest in being of a faint yellow-white 

 colour throughout^ with an accumulation of minute brown 



