26 , SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 9I 



Schulze. The mesh is often about 400 /x in diameter but varies from 

 100/* to 700 /x. As in the genus Spongia, here and there throughout 

 the reticulation are special ascending fibers much larger than the 

 others, ranging from about 50 /* to 100 /*. These have about the cen- 

 tral third cored profusely with minute fragments of detritus. They 

 are not found uniformly spaced throughout the mesh, but instead 

 2 to 4 of them are found close together, united by numerous secondary 

 connectives about 20 //, in diameter and resembling the common type 

 of fibers throughout the sponge. These connectives may be compared 

 to the rungs of a ladder, but the openings between them are less often 

 rectangular than somewhat oval in outline. This whole formation of 

 grouped ascending fibers with connectives may be referred to as fas- 

 ciculated principal fibers. In both the principal and secondary fibers 

 the longer axes of the meshes are frequently directed toward the 

 surface of the sponge, making a distinctive pattern, though one by 

 no means peculiar to this species. 



Discussion of the relationships of ecliina is difficult at this time, be- 

 cause the majority of the sponges that should be allocated to the genus 

 Polyfibrospongia at present are scattered among various other genera. 

 I am elsewhere undertaking a revision of this and related species and 

 therefore postpone further discussion. 



LITERATURE CITED 



BOWERBANK, JaMES ScOTT. 



1858. On the anatomy and physiology of the Spongiadae. Phil. Trans. Roy. 

 Soc. London, vol. 148, pp. 279-332, 4 pis. 

 Burton, Maurice. 



1929. Porifera. Pt. 2, Antarctic sponges. British Antarctic (Terra Nova) 

 Expedition, 1910, Zoology, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 393-458, 9 figs., 5 pis. 



1934. Sponges. Great Barrier Reef Expedition, 1928-29, Scientific Re- 

 ports, vol. 4, no. 14, pp. 513-622, 32 figs., 2 pis. 

 Carter, Henry John. 



1876. Descriptions and figures of deep-sea sponges and their spicules, from 

 the Atlantic Ocean, dredged up on board H. M. S. Porcupine, 

 chiefly in 1869. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 18, pp. 226-240, 

 307-324, 388-410, 458-479, 5 pis. 



1880. Spongia. In W. S. M. D'Urban's " The zoology of Barents Sea." 

 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. 6, pp. 256-257. 

 Dendy, Arthur. 



1888. Studies on the comparative anatomy of sponges. I, On the genera 

 Ridleia, n. gen., and Quasillina Norman. Quart. Journ. Micr. Soc, 

 ser. 2, vol. 28, pp. 513-529, I pi. 



1905. Report on the sponges collected by Professor Herdman, at Ceylon, in 

 1902. In W. A. Herdman's " Report to the Government of Ceylon 

 on the Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar," pt. 3, 

 suppl. 18, pp. 57-246, 16 pis. 



