132 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Voi,. V, 



that the capitular shield, was horizontal or had its broader end depressed. Some- 

 times, however, they lay quite prone as already indicated. The colonies were 

 usually found either on stones or on oyster-shells, in both cases on protected surfaces, 

 but they did not seem to avoid light so much as to seek protection from falling 

 silt. In one instance we found a small colony on the stem of a water-plant. Its 

 polyps did not differ from those of others. On stones the species was almost 

 invariably associated with Laxosuberites lacustris, at the base of which its rhizome 

 adhered, sending up the polyps through the substance of the sponge. 



Though actually found in the Chilka Lake at three localities only, the species is 

 evidently distributed widely in both divisions of the lake-system. The three locali- 

 ties were Barkuda Island and Gopkuda Bay in the main area and the oyster-beds of 

 Manikpatna in the outer channel At the first and the last of these places it was 

 abundant, but at Gopkuda Bay only one specimen was taken. The organism is so 

 minute and inconspicuous that it very readily escapes observation, and it was prob- 

 ably owing to the fact that at Barkuda we were able (living in a bungalow close to 

 the lake and having every facility for microscopic work) to make a very thorough 

 investigation of the stones of the little landing-stage, that we found it in such abun- 

 dance there. Oyster-shells also are naturally much more easily transferred to head- 

 quarters and examined in the field than stray pieces of rock. Apart from the Chilka 

 Iyake, the species has as yet been discovered only on the oyster-beds of the Ennur 

 backwater a few miles up the coast from Madras. At Barkuda Id. the species was 

 taken in an active condition at all times of the year, in water of specific gravity 

 varying from i - oio to i - oo6; at Manikpatna we found it in March and September 

 and at Ennur in November and January. It is thus clear that L. laevis can live in 

 water of a specific gravity of at least 10265 andean survive, at any rate for a limited 

 period, in pure fresh water. 



The type (registered No. ZEV 6211/7) is preserved in the Indian Museum. 



Family Pediceujnidae. 



Genus BARENTSIA, Hincks. 



1880. Barentsia, Hincks, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) VI, p. 285. 

 1886. Cercopodaria, Busk, Rep. Zool. l Challenger ' XVII (2), p. 41. 



Barentsia discreta (Busk), 



1886. Cercopodaria discreta, Busk, Rep. Zool. ' Challenger ' XVII (2), p. 44, pi. x, 



figs. 6-12. 

 1905. Cercopodaria discreta, Thornely in Herdman' s Ceylon Pearl Fisheries IV, 



p. 128. 

 1912. Barentsia discreta, Annandale, Rec. Ind. Mus. VII, p. 205. 



In my note of 19 12 I recorded the occurrence of a dwarfed form of this species 

 in the Mutlah estuary at Port Canning in the Gangetic delta, the water containing 



