296 Rev. A. M. Norman on a few Hebridean Sponges. 



little narrower in the middle, nearly obsoletely striate-punc- 

 tate, punctures minute, intervals of the strias feebly raised; 

 body beneath and legs dark brown, glossy, with a thin greyish 

 pubescence. Length 9 lines. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII. 



Fig. 1. Tyndarisus longitarsus. 



Fig. 2. Altes binodosus : 2 a, the same in profile. 



Fig. 3. Mithippia aurita : 3 a, meso- and metasterna. 



Fig. 4. Helcsus squamosus. 



Fig. 5. Barytipha socialis. 



Fig. 6. Hectus anthracimis. 



[To be continued.] 



XXXVIII. — Notes on a few Hebridean Sponges, and on a new 

 Desmacidon from Jersey. By the Rev. A. M. Norm AN, 

 M.A. 



At the time when my report on Hebridean Dredging was 

 published* the few sponges which had been obtained were 

 still unexamined. So little is yet known of the distribution 

 of the Porifera that any contribution towards a knowledge of 

 their geographical range, however slight, has its value ; and 

 for this reason I publish the following brief notes of the spe- 

 cies observed in the expedition referred to, not without the 

 hope that the extreme imperfection of this record may induce 

 naturalists who may hereafter visit the Hebrides to pay some 

 attention to this much neglected branch of marine zoology. 



Class Porifera. 



Order Calcarea. 



Grantia compressa (Fabr.). 



G. ciliata (Fabr.). This and the foregoing common between 

 tidemarks, Tobermory and Oban. 



G. ensata, Bow. A rare species, only previously observed in 

 the Channel Islands. A specimen found between tide- 

 marks at Tobermory identified by Dr. Bowerbank. 



Leucosolenia coriacea (Montagu). This species seems to vary 

 marvellously in colour. In other localities I have found 

 it white and of a bright lemon-colour ; but as found at 

 Tobermory it was violet ; and yet further in the ' British 



* " Report of the Committee appointed for the purpose of Exploring 

 the Coasts of the Hebrides by means of the Dredge. — Part II. On the 

 Crustacea, Echinodermata, Polyzoa, Actinozoa, and Hvdrozoa," Report 

 of the British Association, 1866 (1867), pp. 193-206. 



