168 BRITISH SPONGES: 



conspicuous. This sponge is to some degree transparent, so 



that by holding it up to the Ught the parallel direction of the 

 centrifugal fibres can be readily seen. When the gelatinous 

 matter is entirely washed out, the sponge is soft and elastic, but 

 if any of the gelatine remains the dried specimen is more or 

 less rigid. 



2. S. LIMB ATA, amorphous, usually lohed, JU)ro-reticular, 

 the meshes rather large ; the fibre smooth and full of minute 

 spicula, which are needle-shaped and double-pointed. 



Plate XIX. Fig. 3, 4, 5. 



Spongia limbata, Montagu in Wern. Mem. ii. Ill, pi. 15, fig. 2, 3. 



Gray, Brit. PI. i. 360. Flem. Brit. Anim. 526. 

 Spongia lobata, Montagu in Wern. Mem. ii. 85, pi. 9, fig. 1. Flem. 



Brit. Anim. 526. 

 Tupha lobata, Gray, Brit. PI. i. 356. 



Hah. Parasitical on corallines and sea-weeds, and sometimes 

 found incrusting the under surface of loose stones, between tide- 

 marks. " Coast of Devon, surrounding the smaller stalk of 

 some fucus, very rare," Montagu. Plymouth harbour, J. C. 

 Bellamy. Berwic^ bay, G. J. Coast of Ireland, William 

 Thompson. Dublin bay, A. H. Hassall. In a pool two miles 

 from Roundstone, Connemara, attached to Fucus serratus, Wil- 

 liam 3PColla. 



Sponge growing in small subglobular or irregularly lobulat- 

 ed masses, from the size of a filbert to that of a walnut, of the 

 usual yellow-brown colour of sponges, fibro-reticulated, elastic, 

 and pervious to light, the meshes roundish or pentagonal, and 

 so large as to be readily distinguished with the naked eye. The 

 fibre is rather coarse, pellucid, smooth, very unequal, containing 

 spicula, which are not visible excepting with a high magnifier. 

 " Tlie fibre is stouter than that of Spongia pulchella, and it an- 

 astomoses more frequently, and is exceedingly full of minute 



