Mr. II. J. Carter on the Animality of Freshwater Sponges. 803 



the thorax, convex above, distinctly punctatc-striate, the punc- 

 tures rather large, remote, angulated, the lateral interstices 

 tuberculatcd, obsoletely rugose on the back, totally black and 

 shining. Body black beneath, granulated and cinereo-pubcscent 

 anteriorly ; abdomen punctulated. Legs rather long, stout, black ; 

 femora robust, clavate, simple ; tibise pilose ; tarsi dilated, piceous, 

 clothed beneath with a flavescent pulvillus. Length 5 lines. 



This insect may be placed in the genus next to Otiorhynchus 

 tenebricosus, to which it is nearly related. 



I have a foreign specimen of Ot. ebeninus of Schonherr from 

 Germar. 



Four specimens of this insect, which is new to the British 

 fauna, were found by Mr. R. N. Greville on the west highlands 

 of Scotland, to whose liberality I am indebted for a specimen. 



XXXI. — Notes on the Species, Structure, and Animality of the 

 Freshwater Sponges in the Tanks of Bombay. [Genus Spon- 

 gilla.) By H. J. Carter, Esq., Assistant Surgeon*. 



There arefourf species of Freshwater Sponges in the Tanks of 

 Bombay, each of which is readily distinguished by the following 

 characters : — 



Two are known from the other two by the peculiar form of 

 the spicula which encrust their seed-like bodies, 



1 . Is darkly cinereous or mouse-coloured when dry, purplish 

 under water when alive, encrusting, repent, spreading in circular 

 patches when isolated; smooth or interrupted by gentle emi- 

 nences on the surface, attaining the thickness of half an inch in 

 the centre, oscula tending towards a quincuncial arrangement ; 

 texture compact, fine, delicate ; structure rectangularly reticu- 

 lated; friable. Seed-like bodies spherical, l-67th of an inch in 

 diameter. Spicula of two kinds, large and small ; large spicula 

 smooth, slightly curved, pointed at each end, l-80th of an inch 

 long; small spicula straight or slightly curved, thickly spini- 

 ferous, I -400th of an inch long. 



2. Is of a faintly yellow or bright green colour, encrusting, re- 

 pent, spreading in irregular patches on fixed bodies, globular 

 when surrounding a floating nucleus ; even or interrupted by 

 gentle eminences on the surface when fixed, presenting meander- 

 ing ridges and sulci when attached to floating bodies ; attaining 

 the thickness of half an inch when fixed, of two inches when, 

 floating; texture coarse and open, structure rectangularly reti- 

 culated with a suberose crust slightly tenacious. Seed-like 



• Reprinted from the Transactions of the Bombay Medical and Phy- 

 sical Society of 1847, and communicated by the Author, 

 t Sec Postscript at p. 310. 



