342 PLATE XOI. 



parietes thin, more or less arenaceous. Interstitial 

 membranes stout, aspiculous. 



Colour. — In the dried state, dark ochreous yellow. 



Habitat. — Diamond Trawling Ground off Hastings ; 

 J. S. Bowerbank. 



Examined. — In the dried state. 



I obtained this sponge with some others from one 

 of the Hastings fishermen, and did not recognise it as a 

 Dysidea until I had examined it microscopically. Its 

 general aspect is much more that of a Desmacidon than 

 of a Dysidea. It has, in the dried state, none of the 

 fragile, brittle character of D. fragilis, but bears 

 handling and slight compression with perfect im- 

 punity, having very much the feeling of damp leather ; 

 and it is fortunate that its external characters are so 

 different from those of D. fragilis, as in other respects 

 many of them are scarcely separable from those of the 

 last-named species. 



The dermis is well preserved in this specimen as a 

 stout, and, comparatively speaking, strong coriaceous 

 membrane, and the skeleton is stronger, tougher, and 

 more open in its structure than that of D. fragilis; 

 in other respects the organic structures of the two 

 species very closely resemble each other. 



