108 BRITISH SPONGES: 



Fleming. Nymph Bank, Ireland (1820) 7?. ^a^/. " Bovi- 

 sand (near Plymouth,) Miss Hook," Bellamy. 



" This sponge is extremely variable in form, forming an en- 

 tire cup, becoming shallower with age, of upwards of a foot in 

 diameter ; or with a cup divided into irregular lobes at the mar- 

 gin, or split, and exhibiting a fan-shaped leaf ; the base, by 

 which it adheres to stones, is solid, and the stem is very short ; 

 the substance is thick at the base, becoming thinner towards 

 the margin ; when old, the central part thickens, becomes reti- 

 cular, with a brittle exterior covering, which may be rubbed 

 off, leaving a skeleton not unlike some Gorgonise ; the pores are 

 of various sizes, those on the inside of the cup or leaf are larger 

 and less angular than the external ones ; the spicula are nume- 

 rous, and much matted ; the gelatinous matter abomids in the 

 young portions, especially towards the margin, and produces 

 a cracked surface when drying." Fleming. 



I have preferred copying this description of Dr Fleming's 

 to any I could have made, because, while it has been drawn 

 from the examination of a larger number of specimens than 1 

 have seen, it yet answers very exactly to my more limited ob- 

 servation. I have also followed Dr Fleming in considering the 

 Spongia Scypha as the younger state of Sp. ventilabrum ; but 

 the character of the foraier has been given separately, for Mon- 

 tagu is very confident this is so opposite to that of the latter 

 as to prevent them ever being confomided. 



The sponge appears to be almost entirely composed of sili- 

 ceous spicula boimd together by a little glutinous cement. The 

 spicula are various in length and variously curved or flexuous, 

 linear and truncate at both ends, but amongst them there are 

 some shaped like a needle, — obtuse at one extremity and sharp- 

 ly pointed at the other. " Those forming the so-named woody 

 veins of this species, lie close and parallel to each other in dense 



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