Porifera of Friday Harbor — DE LAUBENFELS 
It is in the form of great pendants tapering at 
each end, and cylindrical in the central region. 
Common sizes range from 3 X 30 mm. to 8 
X 50 mm. The color in life was dirty white but 
was considerably obscured by accumulations of 
foreign material on the surface. The consistency 
is somewhat elastic but in general very fragile. 
The surface is minutely hispid, minutely cavern- 
ous to the naked eye. The critical difference be- 
tween this genus (frequently known as Sycon) 
and Grantia is in the presence or absence of a 
special dermis, which is present in Grantia, 
The structure of the chambers is typically 
sycon, with elongate thimble shaped chambers 
frequently as large as 180' X 700/a, but in some 
portions of the surface shallow and cuplike in 
shape, in this case being about 130 /a in diameter 
and only 100/a in depth. The oscules are about 
2 or 3 mm. in diameter and to the naked eye 
have smooth rims without conspicuous coronal 
fringes. Microscopical study shows that coronal 
spicules are present; they are about 6 X 800/a. 
The spicules of the chamber layer include smaller 
oxeas about 5 X 400/a and abundant triaxons 
with rays 5 X 75/a to 6 X 105/a. Among them 
occur a very few tetraxons with cladomes of 
about the same size as the triaxons, but with 
rhabds considerably shorter. There are raphide- 
like spicules perhaps to be classified as micro- 
scleres. They are only 0.75/a in diameter and so 
frequently broken because of their delicacy that 
maximum lengths cannot satisfactorily be as- 
signed. 
Lambe (1893: 38) described a Sycon (that 
is to say, a Scypba ) with specific name com - 
pactum , from this vicinity. Its dermal oxeas are 
very much smaller than those of the specimen 
here described, and the triacts of the chamber 
layer have shorter rays of the same thickness, 
but much more sagittal in shape. It possesses a 
conspicuous subgastral category of triradiates, 
and in its gastral quadriradiates the rhabds, in- 
stead of being shorter than the clads, are longer. 
Its shape, moreover, is thicker in proportion to 
the length than is true to the Friday Harbor 
sponge. 
There are two species of Sycon , that is to say 
Scypba , described from California. S. coronatum 
was first placed in the genus Spongia by Ellis 
and Solander (1786: 190) . It does not have any 
193 
microxeas. S. coactum was described by Urban 
(1905: 55) as of the genus Sycandra. It does 
have microxeas, but does not have typical tufts 
to the flagellate chambers, that is to say, spicules 
projecting from the surface, as is true of the 
Puget Sound sponge. Furthermore, all the spic- 
ules of coactum are very much larger than those 
of raphana. 
S. raphana was first described by Schmidt 
( 1862: 14) from the Adriatic. There are many 
minute points of difference between it and 
the American sponge, but at least pro tern this 
identification may be made. 
DEMOSPCNGIAE 
Haliclona per mollis ( Bower bank, 1866) de 
Laubenfels, 1936* 
The sponge thus identified was found grow- 
ing abundantly in a channel at a beach near 
Argyle on San Juan Island. This was so placed 
that a strong current rushed past it each time 
the tide changed. The shape is encrusting with 
very conspicuous oscular projections. The color 
in life was a beautiful purple. The consistency 
is somewhat elastic but rather fragile. The sur- 
face, aside from the evident pores, is optically 
smooth. The oscular projections referred to are 
about 7 to 9 mm. high, each terminating in a 
round oscule about 2 mm. in diameter. The total 
projection, however, is much larger than this, 
frequently reaching a thickness of 4 or 5 mm. 
It is very unusual to find such conspicuous oscu- 
lar tubes on a sponge placed in a strong current, 
although such are very common in sponges 
which grow in calm water. The pores are about 
100/a in diameter and 200/a or 300/a apart, and 
as mentioned above, they show very plainly. The 
internal structure is an isodictyal or "renierid” 
reticulation of spicules united chiefly at their 
apices. These are of one sort only, oxeas approx- 
imately 7 X 100/a. 
This species is clearly conspecific with that 
which Lambe (1893: 2 6) recorded from British 
Columbia and identified as Reniera cinerea , a 
name which unfortunately can no longer be em- 
ployed, as was shown by de Laubenfels ( 1936a: 
39) . A lavender species of Haliclona of this gen- 
eral type is found in many places in the world. 
They are separated from each other only by such 
