4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 9I 



specimens a few prodiaenes of about the same size. The microscleres, 

 which are abundant, are chiefly asters and raphides. The latter are 

 not spined, but instead are lumpy, about 60 /a long, and i ju, to 3 ju, in 

 diameter. The euasters are in places common and in places rare, and 

 seem not to be spined at all. The ends are hastate, so that it is difficult 

 to term them either oxeote or strongylote. 



This species is remarkable among those in the genus Ancoriiia for 

 its lack of anatriaenes. Another having this same characteristic is 

 A. osculifera Dendy (1924, p. 300), from the Antarctic, but that has 

 no dicho-modifications to its megascleres, and its microrhabds are 

 distinctly strongylote. Another interesting comparison is to A. cere- 

 brum Schmidt (1862, p. 46), the type of the genus — a Mediterranean 

 sponge that has many more triaenes than in fenimorea, and has dis- 

 tinctly lumpy armed asters of two size ranges. 



Named for E. R. Fenimore Johnson, a member of the expedition. 



HEZEKIA, n. gen. 



Judged from the literature, sponges referable to the family An- 

 corinidae but lacking euasters are relatively rare, although three genera 

 so characterized are found among the specimens obtained by the First 

 Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition, one of which is here 

 named. This genus is characterized perhaps most decisively by its 

 possession of only spiny microrhabds as microscleres. Its megascleres 

 include oxeas, orthotriaenes, and anatriaenes. 



Genotype and only species. — Hezekia dcniera, new species. 



HEZEKIA DEMERA, n. sp. 



Holotypc. — U.S.N.M. no. 22286. 



Other specimens. — U.S.N.M. nos. 22284, 22285, and 22287. 



Four specimens were collected at station 26, latitude i8°3o'2o" N., 

 longitude 66°22'o5" W. to latitude i8°3o'3o" N., longitude 66°23' 

 05" W., February 7, 1933, 33 to 40 fathoms. 



This sponge is amorphous, the diameter usually 2 to 4 cm, with ir- 

 regular semidigitate processes about i cm in diameter by 1.2 cm high. 

 The color is drab, with a much darker ectosome, the latter frequently 

 brown or reddish brown. The consistency is hard, but somewhat elas- 

 tic, like cartilage. The surface is even, but occasionally slightly hispid 

 in a few places. Undoubted oscules could not be made out, but the 

 surface is abundantly perforated with minute openings, presumably 

 pores, 25 /A to 65 ju, in diameter. The endosome is dense, fine-grained, 

 with only minute canals. Even the flagellate chambers are exception- 



