HALICHONDRIA. 117 



liety of the sponge is very unequal and raised into numerous 

 large conical or papillary processes perforated on the summits : 

 and the texture being loose and more friable, the pores are very 

 visible ; and there are besides many large holes scattered over 

 the surface. Grant's figure is not an exaggerated representa- 

 tion of it in one of these states ; and Sowerby's figure of his 

 Spongia compacta is a good representation of it in another, 

 which is less common than the preceding. A specimen with the 

 processes more than usually elongated, so that it has in fact 

 become irregularly ramose, constitutes the Spongia oculata of 

 Templeton, " found on the shore of Belfast Lough." 



When growing amid Corallina ofiicinalis or capillary sea- 

 weeds, H. panicea often hangs from a branch in nodulous masses 

 that vary from the size of a pea to that of an apple. These are 

 occasionally broken off and cast on shore, altered a good deal 

 in appearance. Such specimens have been sent me as distinct 

 species. To detect their true relationship no description can 

 be made available, but in general an attention to the structure 

 of the mass, and to the figure of the spicula, will suffice. 



When dry the sponge is friable, and the powder has the pro- 

 perty of producing an intolerable itching when inibbed on the 

 skin, as is well known to mischievous boys, " It is remarked, 

 that if it is dried in an oven this peculiar property of stinging 

 is much increased." Ellis. 



That this species is the Spongia panicea of Pallas I consider 

 to be indisputable ; but it surely cannot be his Spongia pa- 

 pillaris, 1st, because it is unlikely that the same sponge should 

 be described twice under different names by a naturalist of Pal- 

 las' experience and caution : " Species Spongiarum nonnisi illas 



holes for the eyes, and ridges on which the dorsal legs were fixed. Tlie 

 Sponge does not lose its vitality, though it is probably cut and modelled 

 by the erab ; a circumstance which would assist it in deceiving the ani- 

 mals on which it feeds." Zoological Journal, iii. p. 406. 



