HALICHONDRIA. 123 



and as large, or even larger than a goose's egg. It is less com- 

 pact than the preceding and equally triable, more cellular inte- 

 riorly, and the pores of the surface are large, unequal, irregular, 

 inosculating and sinuous, while the oscula, rarely elevated, can 

 in general only be distinguished from them by their superior 

 size. These, moreover, have never any distinct rim, but are 

 often cut in a somewhat stellated manner. The spicula are 

 short, straight or slightly curved, rounded at one end and acute- 

 ly pointed at the other, 



Dr Fleming describes it as an extended crust " sometimes an 

 inch in thickness ; when dried, the surface is flat and very po- 

 rous, and the orifices, which are rather smik, have irregular 

 margins, and the divisions of the interior canals being usually 

 visible, give the openings a stellular aspect." 



Montagu's description is as follows : " This sponge, though 

 harsh to the feel, yields to the pressure of the finger-nail with- 

 out elasticity : when recent, is orange-yellow, and full of gela- 

 tinous flesh, but when exposed for a time on the shore, and the 

 fleshy parts decayed and washed out, the pores are observed to 

 be roimdish. When examined by a lens, has a slight resem- 

 blance to a honey-comb ; the pores, however, are not regular 

 in size. If taken fresh, and artificially dried, the pores are 

 greatly obscured by the contracted gluten, and the colour be- 

 comes of a dark brown. If it has undergone a natural decom- 

 position of the more perishable parts on the sea-shore, by the 

 conjoined action of the water and the air, the pores are cleared, 

 and it retains a light yellowish colour. A specimen in this 

 state before me, is flat and broad ; round the edges, (which ap- 

 pear to have been broken,) there are many large roimd openings 

 intersecting the smaller pores, and commvmicating with those on 

 the flat surfaces. This piece is three inches long, two broad, 

 and about half an inch thick." 



Dr Grant tells us that this is the species which presents the 



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