INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND, ETC. 741 



vol. ii, p. 296, plate 51, figs. 1*-!*, Plate £8, fig. 9, 1872. Spongia eoronata 

 Ellis and Solander, Zoophytes, p. 190, Plate 58, figs. 8, 9. Grantia eoronata 

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



Ehode Island to Greenland ; northern coasts of Europe. Common in 

 Casco Bay and Bay of Eundy, low-water to GO fathoms ; Vineyard 

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



? Letjcosolenia botryoides Bowerbank. (p. 500.) 



Brit. Spong., vol. ii, p. 28, 1866. Spongia botryoides Ellis and Solander, Zooph., 

 p. 190, Plate 53, figs. 1-4, 1786. Grantia botryoides Fleming, Brit. Anirn., p. 

 525 ; Johnston, op. cit., p. 178, Plate 21, figs. 1-5. Ascaltis botryoides Hreekel, 

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



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

 Europe 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 fragilis Hseckel. 



Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 74, Plate 11, figs. 5-9, Plate 12, figs. 5 a -."A 1S72. Leucosolenia 

 tliamnoides Hajckel, Prodrom., p. 243, spec. 70. Leucosolenia botryoides 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, 1866 (not of Bowerbank) ; this Report' 

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



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

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

 New Haven, at Thimble Islands, etc.; Watch Hill, Bhode Island ; Vine- 

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



Hreckel names the form figured by Clark var. bifida. 



silicea. 



MlCROCIONA PROLIFERA Verrill. 



Spongia prolifera Ellis and Solander, Zoophytes, p. 189, Plate 58, fig. 5, 1786 ; 

 Lainouroux, Expos. M6thodique, p. 31, Plate 58, fig. 5. Red sponge, this 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 in crusting forms. Oar 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 



