2IO 
ZOOLOGY OF THE FAR EAST. 
which form an irregular mass outside the pneumatic layer of the gemmules, are short, 
fairly stout and cylindrical, densely covered with minute spicules and as a rule 
abruptly pointed at the extremities. Occasionally they are sigmatoid but in most 
cases the main axis is feebly curved. 
Type-specimen. ZEV 7164/7, Zool. Survey of India {Ind. Mus.). 
Locality. Mouth of the Patalung R. at Lampam, Tale Sap, Siam. 
My largest specimen of this sponge (PI. II, fig. 5) was attached to a branch which 
had been cast up by a flood at the edge of the Tale Sap near Lampam, and is about 30 
cm. long and 3 cm. thick including the twig in the middle. It was discovered in a dry 
condition. Smaller specimens were found growing on bamboo piles inside the river 
at the same place. 
Had I found the large specimen only I should certainly have assigned it to the 
tropical African genus Potamolepis, for it contains no gemmules and in all other res- 
pects conforms to the original description of that genus. Further, I was long in doubt 
as to the specific identity of the different specimens, until I discovered that the peri- 
pheral parts of some of them, having amphioxous spicules, merged gradually without a 
break into thicker regions in which the spicules were amphistrongylous. This species, 
therefore, provides additional evidence as to the provisional nature of the classifica- 
tion of the Spongillidae that I put forward in 1913, fully recognizing that it was pro- 
visional. Spongilla {Eunapius) nitens, a tropical African species, is undoubtedly a close 
ally of S. potamolepis, and I should not be surprised to discover ultimately that some 
or all of the sponges now assigned to the genus Potamolepis will have to be trans- 
ferred ultimately to the subgenus Eunapius of the genus Spongilla, the name Euna- 
pius having a priority of sixteen years. The only generic basis on which Potamolepis 
now rests is the fact that gemmules have not been discovered in the few specimens 
that have been collected, and, as I pointed out in 1913 {op. cit., p. 83), it is by no 
means improbable that any gemmules they may have contained were left behind 
adhering to the object to which they were attached. The gemmules of S. potamolepis 
adhere in this way. 
LIST OF THE SPONGILLIDAE OF ASIA (INCLUDING THE MALAY 
ARCHIPELAGO) WITH SYNONYMS. 
Genus Spongilla, Lamarck (1836). 
Subgenus Euspongilla, Vejdovsky (1883). 
SpongiIvLA lacustris, auct. Cosmopolitan. 
Syn. Spongilla cinerea, Weber (not 
Carter) . 
S. LACUSTRis var. proliferEns, An- India and Burma, 
nandale. 
Syn. Spongilla prolif evens, Annan- 
dale. 
S. LACUSTRIS var. reticulata, Annan- India and Burma, 
dale. 
