85 
TAB. XLII. 
SPONGIA compacta. 
Compact Tabular Sponge. 
Class 6. Vermes. Order 4. Zoophyta. 
Gen. Char. Animal fixed, flexile, torpid, of vari- 
ous forms, composed either of reticulate fibres, 
or masses of small spines interwoven together, 
and clothed with a gelatinous flesh full of small 
mouths on its surface, by which it absorbs and 
rejects water. 
Spec. Char. Tubular, ramose, composed of spi- 
culaj crossing one another, very compact and 
brittle. 
We suspect this has been much confounded with Spongia 
tomenlosa ( urens of Ellis) : we however think it at first 
sight sufficiently different. It appears more like the. habi- 
tation of an insect with more or less ovate tubular termina- 
tions. It is much tougher and more cottony in its texture, 
has sometimes a smoothish covering towards the mouth of 
the apertures, which occasionally passes into extreme fine 
reticulations, over the coarser reticulations on the surface. 
We have found it in great plenty at Shellness, and other 
P^ts of Sheppey Island, at different seasons; and we 
