INVERTEBKATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND, ETC. 741 



vol. ii, p. 296, [Plate 51, figs, l^-l*, Plate £8, fig. 9, 1872. Siwngia coronata 

 Ellis and Solander, ZoopLytes, p. 190, Plate 58, figs. 8, 9. Grantia coronata 

 Hassall, Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 174. 



Ehode Island to Greenland -, northern coasts of Enrope. Common in 

 Casco Bay and Bay of Fundy, low-water to 60 fathoms; Vineyard 

 Sound, not uncommon. Point Judith, Ehode Island (Leidy). 



? Leucosolenia botryoides Boweibank. (p. 500.) 



Brit. Spong., vol. ii, p. 28, 1866. Sxoongia loirijoides Ellis and Solander, Zoopb., 

 p. 190, Plate 58, figs. 1-4, 1786. Grantia hotryoides Flemiug, Brit. Anim., p. 

 525; Jolinston, op. cit., p. 178, Plate 21, figs. 1-5. Asoaltis hotryoides HtBckel, 

 op. cit., vol. ii, p. 65, Plate 9, fig. 10, Plate 10, figs. 7a-7e. 



Martha's Vineyard to Gulf of Saint Lawrence ; northern coasts of 

 Euroi)e to England and France. 



I refer some of our larger specimens to this species with considerable 

 doubt. They appear to be distinct from the following species, with which 

 they have formerly been confounded. 



AscoRTis PRAGiLis Hieckel. 



Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 74, Plate 11, figs. 5-9, Plate 12, figs. .5^-5', 1872. Leucosolenia 

 thamnoides Hteckel, Prodrom., p. 243, spec. 70. Leucosolenia hotryoides H. J. 

 Clark, Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. i, part 3, p. 323, (sep. copies, p. 19) 

 Plate 9, figs. 40-44, Plate 10, fig. 64, 186S (not of Bowerbank) ; tbis Report^ 

 pp. 334,391. Grantia hotryoides Leidy, op. cit., p. 135, 1855. 



Long Island Sound to Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Western coast of 

 Norway, at Bergen, etc. (Hseckel). Common in Long Island Sound, near 

 'New Haven, at Thimble Islands, etc.; Vv^atch Hill, Ehode Island ; Vine- 

 yard Sound ; Casco Bay, etc. Massachusetts Bay (H. J. Clark). 



Hseckel names the form figured by Clark var. hifida. 



SILICEA. 



Micro ciONA prolifera Verrill. 



Sponcjia prolifera Ellis and Solander, Zoopbytes, p. 189, Plate 58, fig. 5, 1786; 

 Lamouroux, Expos. Metbodique, p. 31, Pkite 58, fig. 5. Red sponge, tbis Re- 

 port, pp. 330, 409, 476. 



This species, when young, forms broad, thin, bright red incrustations 

 over the surfaces of stones and shells. In this stage it agrees well with 

 the British species of Microciona described by Bowerbank, all of which 

 are said to be incrusting forms. Our species, at a later period, rises up 

 into irregular lobes and tubercular prominences, which eventually be- 

 come elongated and subdivided into slender branches, until they often 

 form a profusely and intricately branched sponge, frequently six inches 

 high and as much in diameter. The branches are repeatedly dichoto- 

 mous, more or less flattened, and often digitate or palmate at the ends. 

 They also frequently anastomose irregularly. The branches, when dry, 

 are brittle and hispid. They consist of stout, horny fibers, which radiate 

 outward and upward from the axis to the periphery, terminating in 



