BRITISH SPONGIADiE. 169 



'HI a has two pieces on the card so numberedj one larger 

 than the other, and each differing from the other in specific 

 characters. The smaller specimen, labelled 27a and 27d, 

 are the same species, and appear identical with Hymeni- 

 acidon caruncida of this work ; 273 and 37c are the same 

 species, having spicula of the same form as those of H. 

 caruncula, but very much longer ; 27a, the largest speci- 

 men, has spicula of an acerate form, differing entirely from 

 the other four specimens. Thus, in the five specimens we 

 recognise three species under the single designation of 

 Halichondria sanguinea. The two specimens distinguished 

 as 273 and 27c appear to answer best to the description 

 given by Dr. Johnston of his Halichondria sanguinea, and 

 I therefore propose to confine the specific name Sanguinea 

 to them. They differ considerably from each other in size 

 and the characters of the surface, so much so that Dr. 

 Johnston has labelled 273 as an abnormal form, but this 

 discrepancy, when we consider the difference in size and 

 development of the two specimens, is of very little value in 

 this tribe of sponges. 27c is thirteen inches long, by seven 

 lines wide, and about the eighth of an inch in thickness, 

 and is stated to have been found in Berwick Bay, and we 

 may therefore presume that it agreed in colour with the de- 

 scription given of JI. sanguinea in his work, as well as in 

 having the acuate spicula long. 



The specimen labelled 273, Halichondria sanguinea ab- 

 normal, is very much larger than any of the other specimens 

 with which it is associated. It is nearly three inches long, 

 by two inches broad, of an irregularly oval form, and its 

 greatest thickness rather exceeds half an inch. The surface 

 is very uneven and rugged, full of conical projections and 

 short ridges, some of which are nearly half an inch in 

 height. The oscula are numerous and comparatively large ; 

 they are situated both on the sides and the apices of the 

 ridges or cones, which cover the surface of the sponge. 



In Hymeniacidon caruncula the acuate spicula are con- 

 siderably shorter than in the sponge to which I propose to 

 confine the term Sanguinea, but beside this difference in 

 character, there are others which assist us in our discrirai- 



