170 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
be omitted: “but no large sand grains joined by slender short fibers occur” (1889, 
P- 554)- 
In the possession of a dermal skeleton the Beaufort species appears to be nearly 
unique in the subfamily. Lendenfeld says (loc. cit., p. 477) that the species of Stelo- 
spongia are destitute of a special dermal skeleton, by which he must mean one that lies 
in the ectosome, close to the surface and above the level of the subdermal cavities. 
So, too, the described species of Hircinia, in general, lack a dermal skeletal reticulum, 
which is, however, present in H. (Oligoceras) conulosa (Ridley) (Ridley, 1884, p. 599; 
Lendenfeld, loc. cit., p. 535). 
The presence of large sand grains in the skeletal fibers is the central fact on which 
Lendenfeld bases his subgenus Psammocinia (loc. cit., p. 579). As to whether Psam- 
mocinia is a natural group or an assemblage of phenotypes we are not in a position 
to form an opinion, although it is certain that the mineral content of the skeleton is 
exceedingly variable, both in total amount and kind, in what must be regarded as a 
single species. F. E. Schulze long ago pointed out how variable is the amount of 
mineral content in the ectosome of H. variabilis (1879b, p. 14). 
The resemblance of H. ectofibrosa to some of the Mediterranean specimens of H. 
variabilis involves surface details. "These are the sponges now assigned to var. hirsuta, 
in which the conuli are high and sharp and often in rows: “‘gew6hnlich in kurzen unre- 
gelmassigen Kammen, welche Bogen bilden und in einander tibergehen” (Schmidt, 
1862, p. 33). They are evidently very similar to the Beaufort species. 
The Beaufort sponge is doubtless an outlying member of the Florida-West Indian 
fauna. Several species of the genus have already been recorded from the Florida- 
West Indian waters: Hircinia campana (Lamarck), H. arbuscula (Schmidt), H. acuta 
(Duchassaing et Michelotti), H. cartilaginea (Esper), H. purpurea Hyatt, by Hyatt 
(1877); several under “‘ Polytherses’’ by Duchassaing and Michelotti (1864, p. 67); H. 
caracensis Carter (Carter, 1882, p. 273), H. twbulosa Carter (Carter, 1884, p. 203); 
H. purpurea Whitfield, and H. atra Whitfield (Whitfield, 1901); H. acuta (Duchassaing 
et Michelotti), H. variabilis F. E. Schmidt, H. jetida (Schmidt) var. cuspidata Wilson, 
by Wilson (1902). Not all of these species are recognizable. 
One of the West Indian forms just recorded offers resemblances to the Beaufort 
species. This is H. campana var. fixa Hyatt (Hyatt, 1877, p. 546, Pl. XVII, fig. 28). 
The case of H. (Spongia) campana (Lamarck) as occurring in the West Indies is as 
follows: Duchassaing and Michelotti (1864, p. 68) identified certain forms as belonging 
to this species. Hyatt (loc. cit.) grouped under the same heading a variety of West 
Indian sponges. He tells us that the variation in his specimens is great, involving 
not only habitus and size of the interconular depressed areas, but the skeleton also. 
In the absence of more detailed structural data it is uncertain how far Hyatt was jus- 
tified in grouping these forms together. With respect to some of them, varieties tyfica, 
fixa, and felix, his account intimates that the main fibers are fascicular, in the sense of 
being compound fibers. Lendenfeld (loc. cit., p. 561) refers others of Hyatt’s speci- 
mens, var. columnaris to H. variabilis, evidently concluding (on what grounds is uncer- 
tain) that the main fibers in these are simple. 
With respect to H. campana, we venture to say that possibly the vase shape is 
assumed by several West Indian Hircinias, or there may be a West Indian species (H. 
campana) which under certain conditions becomes vase shaped, but which may be of 
