262 
Kaalualu. It was found on the underside of a 
large stone barely submerged at low tide. 
This sponge is incrusting, pale drab, and 
soft. The ectosome includes an optically evi- 
dent reticulation of spicular tracts, as does the 
endosome. There are also many spicules 
which are merely strewn in confusion. 
The megascleres are tylostyles with elon- 
gate heads, reaching a maximum of at least 
13 by 350 n, or 10 by 400 ju. The microscleres 
include sigmas 5 m thick and 80 ijl in chord 
length, smaller sigmas only 23 ijl in chord 
length, toxas about 60 /x long, commonplace 
palmate anisochelas 40 /x long (which are 
often arranged in rosettes), and smaller pal- 
mate anisochelas only 10 n long. 
Martens in 1824 described Spongia con- 
tarenii from European waters. Topsent (1928: 
78) redescribed it, placing it in Mycale. It was 
referred to Carmia by de Laubenfels (1936: 
118). All records so far are from Europe, 
where it is common. The Hawaiian sponge 
which is here described is identified as con- 
tarenii only with grave doubts. It is so small 
a specimen and so devoid of striking charac- 
teristics, however, that it seems most unwise 
to erect a new species name for it. It exhibits 
no points of definite difference from con- 
tarenii and is at least closely related to the 
European species. Were more and better de- 
veloped specimens available, grounds might 
be found for considering it a new species. 
Axocielita kilauea new species 
Fig. 9 
The type specimen of this species is U. S. 
National Museum, Register Number 22779 
(My No. H. 76), collected May 14, 1948, in 
Hilo Harbor near Coconut Island, at a depth 
of about 2 meters, by diving. 
This sponge is incrusting and about 0.5 
mm. thick. In life it was vermilion-red and of 
mediocre consistency. The surface is micro- 
hispid but lipostomous. 
The ectosome does include a fleshy mem- 
brane, but it is rather vaguely developed. The 
whole sponge is so thin that it is also true 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. V, July, 1951 
that, the endosomal structures lack con- 
spicuous pattern. 
The skeleton is composed of two types of 
megascleres. There are relatively large styles, 
often 12 by 280 /x, but sometimes at least 15 
by 630 fjL. Some are merely loose in the flesh, 
but others stand erect on the substrate, their 
points projecting slightly beyond the surface. 
The spicule heads that are in contact with the 
substrate are usually slightly spined. A second 
megasclere type is a smooth, straight tylo- 
style, about 2 by 144 /x in dimensions. These 
are often strewn in confusion but are more 
common at or near the surface than they are 
near the base of the sponge. The microscleres 
include commonplace toxas, 30 to 60 ju long, 
usually 50 /x. There are also peculiar chelas, 
perhaps of two sorts. Chelas of this type 
(or these types) are each about 14 m long. 
Practically all of them reveal merely a C 
shape, but after long search one face-view of 
a palmate isochela of apparently common- 
place form was found. When such chelas lie 
on their sides, they look somewhat like the 
above-mentioned C shape, but they are 
Fig. 9. Axocielita kilauea: spicules, from camera 
lucida drawings. A, Style; B, tylostyle; C, peculiar 
microsclere, probably in isochela, common in this 
species; D, the one typical palmate isochela; E, toxa. 
(The scale shows 100 microns by tens.) 
very likely to lie in such a position as to re- 
veal the shape of their shovels; here they do 
not. Two explanations may exist to explain 
the peculiar situation in Axocielita kilauea. 
First, there may be such wide, peculiar lateral 
expansions on the shaft that equilibrium re- 
sults from the side position. Second (and 
more likely) , it may be that nearly all of these 
chelas have such exceedingly narrow shovels 
that they inevitably fall over on their sides. 
