SPONGES. 
483 
to him with many other sponges, on being informed of his contemplated 
work upon the subject: in the same year this species was procured in 
Belfast Bay by Dr. Drummond. In July, 1840, it was dredged by our 
party at Killery Bay, Connemara ; two specimens thence in my collection, 
as well as the first alluded to, are attached to Turritella terebra. Several 
procured in Strangford Lough are attached to Cytlierea ovata — the largest 
is 2f inches in height, and quite pyriform. 
In 1843 Mr. Hyndman dredged it in Carlingford Bay, attached to Tur- 
ritella terebra . 
Genus Cliona. 
C. celata , Grant. 
In perforations of the shell of the oyster ( Ostrea edulis ) taken in Belfast 
Bay and elsewhere on the North-East coast, W. T. 
January, 1848. — In Belfast market to-day I observed a very fine Car- 
rickfergus oyster, 6 inches in diameter, covered with this species, both in 
a mass outside its shell, and filling up the drilled apertures through the 
layers of the shell. It thus at once presented var. A and var. B of John- 
ston on Sponges, p. 125. I found that shells so invested are called in the 
market “rotten oysters,” and to prove the correctness of this term, a 
vender of the oysters showed me how the shell broke between his fingers. 
He remarked that the oyster itself was nevertheless quite good, as the 
inner portion of the shell next it always remained sound. (This is quite 
in accordance with Dr. Grant’s observations.) Among oysters from 
Strangford Lough “ rotten ones ” also are found. 
March ls£, 1848. — I found Cliona filling the perforations in two im- 
mense Carrickfergus oysters (2 lbs. and If lb weight) ; it rises above the 
surface of the shell outside, in little eminences. One shell that it appears 
through (except on inner surface, which is entire, a yellowish^brown 
marking, however, there denoting the presence of the Cliona ) is If inch in 
thickness. 
Genus Spongilla. 
S. Jluviatilis, Pall. 
North of Ireland, Mr. Templeton. Hiver Inver, Larne. Branched form, 
shores Lough Erne, 1837, W. T. 
March 24 th, 1837. — I received from James Grimshaw, jun., Esq., speci- 
mens of a Spongilla “which grew about pipes in one of the ponds at 
Whitehouse.” They assume very different forms, several being flattish, 
and which probably had spread over the pipes, and one large mass a foot 
long, and half as much broad, is much branched ; but this is chiefly an 
incrustation on what appears like the remains of an old heather besom, 
but when there is nothing woody for a foundation it branches out con- 
siderably. This latter form seems identical with the Ephydatia canalium, 
as figured by Fleming (Phil, of Zool., t. v. f. 4). ^ This figure is stated to 
have been taken “ from an Irish specimen ” (vol. ii. p. 614), but when pro- 
cured, or by whom obtained, is not mentioned. Of the two British species 
of Spongilla, this agrees with S. Jluviatilis {Halicondria Jluv., Flem. Brit. 
An., p. 524), the S. lacustris being of a “ hard” nature. 
S. lacustris, Flem., 
Was noticed by Dr. Allman before Dublin Nat. Hist. Society, in 1848’ 
as found by him in the lower lake of Killarney, and in some of the County 
Wicklow lakes. 
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