SPONGES OF BEAUFORT (N. C.) HARBOR AND VICINITY. 159 
Axinella acanthifera, n. sp. (Pl. LXII, fig. 34; Pl. LXIII, figs. 38, 39; P!. LXVI, fig. 50a, b, c, d.) 
One specimen taken on Fort Macon beach. 
Sponge body (Pl. LXII, fig. 34) lamellate, narrowing below to a stalk, expanded and divided into 
lobes above. Lobes in general foliaceous, separated by marginal notches; but the margin is also pro- 
duced here and there into short, subcylindrical lobes. Upper part of sponge curved irregularly, so that 
the lobes lie in different planes. In this particular specimen growth has evidently resulted in an early 
division of the main axis, the two parts thus produced later on fusing at a point higher up. Height of 
specimen, 40 millimeters; width, 30 millimeters; thickness of lamella, 2 to 3 millimeters. 
Color in alcohol gray brown with a tinge of yellow. Sponge firm, but flexible. Surface smooth 
and velvety. 
Both surfaces are alike, appearing finely porous to the eye. The surface is depressed between 
the dermal brushes of projecting spicules; where greatly depressed, this is probably due to drying. Pores 
60 to 85 » in diameter are abundantly scattered between the dermal brushes. Fine canals less than 
o.5 millimeter in diameter may be seen here and there beneath the dermal membrane, and parallel to 
the surface of the sponge. In places they radiate toward a central stripe, in which two or three minute 
apertures, about o.5 millimeter in diameter, are arranged in a row. ‘These are doubtless oscula. 
A very similar arrangement is described for Axinella manus Dendy, from the Gulf of Manaar. “The 
vents are small openings in the floors of stellately arranged or longitudinal grooves’’ (Dendy, 1905, 
p- 189). 
Spicules.—(1) The most abundant megasclere is a smooth, slightly curved style, 160 to 260 u long 
by 7 to 12 w thick; commonly about 210 by 8u (Pl. LXVI, fig. 59a). This spicule makes up the bulk 
of both axial and peripheral skeleton. In the dermal brushes these styles, which constitute most of 
the brush, are thicker than elsewhere; common range, 160 to 200 u by 1o to 12 w. (2) A much stouter 
style, straight or nearly so, 160 to 240 uw by 12 to 20 u (fig. 59) is intermingled with the common form 
both in the axial and peripheral skeleton. (3) A very long and slender style, 400 to 600 u by 6 to 7 uw 
(fig. soc; Pl. LXIII, fig. 38, right side), is a characteristic element of the dermal brushes. Each brush 
includes a few (one to four) of these spicules, which project far beyond the others. They are broken 
off over much of the surface. (4) A small spinose style, 80 to 120 u by 6 uw, with strong spines (fig. sod), 
is present in the dermal brushes, in the radial fibers, in and projecting from the connectives that ex- 
tend between the radial fibers. The spicule is not common anywhere, but is easily found on searching. 
Only those few which project from the connectives could be classified as “echinating’’ spicules. The 
bulk of them occupy positions similar to those of the common style. (5) Long and very slender rhaphid- 
like spicules occur in considerable abundance, scattered singly or in loose irregular sheaves; charac- 
teristic spicules measure 200 by 1 4; more abundant in the ectosome than elsewhere. ‘The sheaves are 
not to be confused with trichodragmata. It is questionable whether these spicules are rhaphides or 
simply stages in the development of the megascleres. Rhaphides in bundles have recently been des 
scribed in a related sponge, Raspailia (Syringella) rhaphidophora Hentschel from the Aru Islands 
(Hentschel, ro12, p. 371). 
Skeletal framework.—The skeleton (P1. LXIII, figs. 38, 39) is divisible into an axial and a peripheral 
part. The axial skeleton is chiefly composed of longitudinal fibers which anastomose to some extent, 
but the unions between which are more commonly made by transverse or oblique connectives irregu- 
larly disposed. The longitudinal fibers are polyspicular, with abundant spongin, the spicules arranged 
longitudinally in the fiber or obliquely, with the point slightly projecting. The fibers vary greatly 
in thickness and character in different regions of the sponge. Inthe upper part they are about 30 to jon 
thick and well filled with spicules, the spaces between them wider than the fibers themselves. Nearer 
the base the axial reticulum is closer and more compact. The individual fibers are here thicker, owing 
to the increase in the amount of spongin around the spicules, the latter now forming only an axial core. 
The fibers in the basal region range from about 60 to 120 uw in thickness, the interstices between them 
being about the thickness of or narrower than the fibers. 
The connectives between the longitudinal fibers include, as arule, one to three spicules, which are 
covered with abundant spongin. The spicules of a connective are often longer than the space between ~ 
the fibers that are joined, and thus cross both fibers. 
The peripheral skeleton is made up of radial fibers, including their dermal terminations, and con- 
nectives. The radial fibers are prolongations of the axial fibers that curve in an obliquely radial 
direction to the surface. They branch to some extent. The fibers are polyspicular; the spicules held 
