14 THe Ottawa NaTurRALIsT. [April 
A NEW RECENT MARINE SPONGE (Z£SPERELLA BELLA- 
BELLENSIS ) FROM THE PACIFIC COAST OF CANADA. * 
By LAWRENCE M. Lampe, F.G.S., F.R.S.C., of the Geological Survey 
of Canada. 
(With one plate.) : 
The Geological Survey of Canada has lately received from 
British Columbia a large cup-shaped sponge that is a welcome addi- 
tion to its very representative collection of Canadian recent marine 
sponges from the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans. The speci- 
men is interesting not only on account of its size but also because 
it belongs to an apparently undescribed species of the Monaxonid 
genus Esperella, It was obtained by purchase from Mr. F. Lands- 
berg of Victoria, B.C., who states, in a letter to the writer, that 
it was brought to the surface in August of 1904, from a depth of 
about 300 fathoms, off Bella Bella, an indian village on the British 
Columbian coast, situated on Campbell island, and about 350 ; 
miles north of Victoria. 
The sponge is large, cup-shaped, and expands widely above 
the short, stout stalk, the diameter of the almost circular rim ex- 
ceeding the total height. The wall of the cup is relatively thin 
and the outer surface, in the dried state, the condition in which the 
specimen has been received, is rough. 
The skeleton consists of an open irregular reticulation of coarse 
fibres that terminate outwardly, in the wall of the cup, at right 
angles to the surface. Within the cup the fibres lie quite evenly 
in the plane of the surface so that the inside surface is compara- — 
tively smooth. The fibres are much stouter in the lower part of 
the sponge, particularly in the stalk where they are disposed in a 
more nearly vertical direction. 
The fibres are composed of stylote spicules with a fair propor- 
tion of spongin present. The surface membrane within the cup 
is strengthened by spicules lying in the plane of the membrane and 
forming at times loose fibres, the membrane of the outer surface 
holds similarly disposed spicules that more generally form, how- 
* Communicated by permission of the Acting Director of the Geological 
Survey of Canada. 
