HALICHONDRIA. ]o3 



this circumstance has not been ascertained with any certainty."' 

 Sowerby. 



8. H. ? PLUMOSA, '^Hrregulai', rather soft and tough, when 



deprived of its gelatinous jiesh, somewhat resembling com- 



j)ressed tow." 



Spongia phimosa, Montagu m Wern. Mem. ii. 116. Flem. Br. Anim. 

 526. Grmj, Br. PI. i. 361. 



Hah. Coast of Devon, rare, Montagu. 



" The texture of this sponge is not very tine, but loose, and 

 pervious to light, not very imlike officinalis, but of a paler colour, 

 and not so compressible and elastic : it is composed of small 

 fimbriated or feather-like fibres that intersect each other, inter- 

 spersed with lai'ger pores. It has not been ascertained to what 

 size this species grows, or to what it is naturally attached. One 

 or two specimens only have occurred. These are of a yellow- 

 ish-white colour, about three inches high, and more than two 

 inches broad." Montagu. 



I have had imperfect specimens of a sponge (Plate XII. Fig. 

 4,) sent me for this species which do not accord with Montagu's 

 description of it. Nor did a visit to the British Museum throw 

 any light on the subject, for the collection of sponges made by 

 Montagu does not appear to have been deposited, with his other 

 collections, in that noble institution. It has thus become almost 

 impossible to identify some of ^lontagu's species, or even to as- 

 certain the proper genus of them. 



9. H. FRUTICOSA, amorphous, coarsely reticulate, the 



fibres loosely netted, tough; the spicula short, linear, obtusely 



pointed. 



Plate XIV. Fig. I. 



Spongia fruticosa, Montagu in Wern. Mem. ii. 112, pi. 14, iig. 3,4. 

 Gray, Brit. pi. i. 360. Grant in Edin. New Phil. Journ. ii. 139, 

 pi. 2, fig. JO: the spicuhim, copied in Blainv. Actinol. pi. 94, 

 fig. 10. 



