112 ACCOtJNT OF BRITISH SPONGI^S- 



32. Fruticosa, Tough, elastic, reticulated, t\ii 

 fibres smooth, slightly connected, and dis- 

 tant. 



Spongia lichenoides. Pallas, Zooph. p. 378 ?'^GmeL 

 p. 3824. 



Plate xiv. fig. 3, 4. 



This sponge is extremely light and elegant in: 

 appearance, like a shrubby lichen : the fibres are 

 very distant, so that a large piece is, in a dry state, 

 pervious to light : it is rather more compact about 

 the base, from whence it usually spreads into large 

 lobes, which frequently have the vertical fibres 

 somewhat radiating from the base, and the decus- 

 sations more distant. From the sinuous appear- 

 ance of the larger specimens, it seems to attach 

 itself to the stalks of large fuci ; but as it inhabits 

 the deep amongst rocks, it has never fallen to my 

 lot to procure a living specimen. After violent 

 storms, it is frequently ejected, and then is some- 

 times at first brownish, but soon becomes white 

 by the conjoined action of the sun, the air, and the 

 Water. In this state, when all the animal gluten 

 has been completely removed, the fibres uAder 

 a lens exhibit a silky or asbestine appearance, 

 and seem to acquire a superior tenacity. The 

 larger pieces of six or seven inches in length, 

 and half as much in breadth, are rude, shapeless, 

 and usually have the terminating fibres worn away. 

 It is in such older specimens th^Lt Baianus spongia, 

 described and figured in Testacea Britannica, makes 



