Sponges of Kaneohe Bay — -DE LAUBENFELS 
reported from the windward side of the island 
of Molokai, even masses 2 feet deep extend- 
ing far along the beach. Reports came to 
me of large beds of Spongia north of the 
island of Maui and just north of, and also 
just south of, Kaneohe Bay. Dredging at the 
latter locality failed, however, to yield a sin 
gle specimen. During May, 1948, I made a 
reconnaissance of the large island of Hawaii 
and found this species rather common along 
the south and west coasts, but did not 
similarly explore the turbulent, windward, 
northeast coast. 
Dysidea avara (Schmidt) de Laubenfels 
This species is represented to date by only 
a single specimen collected at Moku O Loe 
on January 10, 1948. This is now deposited 
in the U. S. National Museum, Register 
Number 22749. It was growing on the east 
side of the dock, near the concrete bridge 
which connects the dock with the island. It 
was at a depth of about 2 meters. This is 
location number 5 on the map. 
This specimen is 6 by 7 by 9 cm., massive, 
and in life it was dull purple outside, brown 
inside. Its consistency is very spongy, but if 
dry it would doubtless, like others of the same 
species, become hard and brittle. 
The surface is beset with conules about 
2 mm. high and 1 to 8 mm. apart, usually 3 
to 4 mm. apart. The oscules are 3 mm. in 
diameter and 2 to 3 cm. apart. The pores 
are 50 g in diameter; about 10 or 14 such 
occur in each of numerous surface areas. Each 
such area is about 0.5 mm. in diameter, and 
represents a mesh in a subdermal reticulation 
of spongin fiber. 
The ectosome consists of a thin dermis 
much perforated by pores as described. The 
endosome is fibro-reticulate. The flagellate 
chambers are 60 g in diameter, sack-shaped 
( eurypylous ) . Both primary or ascending 
fibers and secondary fibers are loaded with 
foreign material, but a few fibers in the sub- 
dermal reticulation are free from detritus. 
These latter are 20 to 40 g in diameter. In 
the main fibers a few short spaces that are 
free of inclusions are lOOg in diameter, but 
the abundant inclusions are often sand grains 
of 250 g in diameter. 
The species name avara was first used as 
Spongelia avara by Schmidt (1862: 29) for 
a Mediterranean species very much like this 
one from Hawaii. That Spongelia falls in 
synonymy to the earlier Dysidea is made clear 
by de Laubenfels ( 1932: 124) if not sooner; 
earlier authors had speculated that such might 
be the case. Very similar sponges are recorded 
from Australia by Lendenfeld (1889: 668 ; 
as Spongelia distans and are recorded from 
the Philippines, first by Wilson (1925: 476) 
as Spongelia fragilis and subsequently by de 
Laubenfels (1935: 327) as Dysidea palles- 
cens. Burton (1934: 583) placed many spe- 
cies, including pallescens, distans, and avara, 
in synonymy with fragilis. In a monograph 
of the keratose sponges (de Laubenfels 1948: 
142 ) I maintain the specific distinctness of 
avara as compared to fragilis, including dis- 
tans with avara. The species avara is never 
as pale or grayish as fragilis, and consistently 
has a much coarser surface. In addition fra- 
gilis tends to have larger oscules, often at the 
distal ends of cylindrical branches. Occasional 
deformed specimens of avara may resemble 
equally rare deformed specimens of fragilis, 
thus leading . to the belief that all are con- 
specific. D. avara appears to be common 
throughout the Old World, Europe to Aus- 
tralia, and is now recorded in mid-Pacific. 
D. fragilis is world-wide, being found even 
into the near Arctic. 
Pleraplysilla hyalin a new species 
The holotype of this species is designated 
as spirit-preserved specimen, U. S. National 
Museum, Register Number 22754. It was 
collected January 10, 1948, in Kaneohe Bay 
at a depth between 1 and 2 meters, growing 
on dead coral. 
