24 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IV, January, 1950 
D 
Fig. 14. Kaneohea poni, spicules, from a camera 
lucida drawing, X 666. A, strongyles. B, styles. 
C, oxea. D, raphide. 
The spicules show little or no localization, 
but all three kinds of megascleres make up 
the reticulation, well mixed. The strongyles 
are about 5 by 90 g, the styles 4 or 5 by 
120 g, the oxeas also 5 by 120 g. The raph- 
ides are about 0.5 by 90 g. 
The species name is derived from the 
Hawaiian word for purple. 
Mycale cecilia de Laubenfels 
Fig. 15 
This species is very common in Hawaii, 
widely scattered in shallow water locations. 
Its greatest abundance, however, seems to be 
in Honolulu Harbor and in Pearl Harbor. 
The first specimen that I found in Kaneohe 
Bay was at Moku O Loe, November 3, 1947; 
this is deposited in the U. S. National Mu- 
seum, Register Number 22747. It occurred 
as a large encrustation on a mangrove shoot 
at location 2 in Figure 2. By December 22, 
1947, the whole sponge had disappeared, al- 
though I had carefully left most of it in situ , 
and the location was one that would be most 
easily kept track of and found again. Nor 
have I been able to find it in that vicinity 
since. This may have some connection with 
a reproductive cycle. 
This species is encrusting, often about 0.5 
to 1 cm. thick. The above mentioned Moku 
O Loe specimen covered a mangrove shoot 
that was some 40 cm. long. The multitude 
of colors of this species requires further 
discussion below. The consistency is softiy 
spongy. 
The surface is fairly smooth, with many 
minute, contractile pores. The oscules are 
about 200 g in diameter, but they too are 
difficult to measure because of their con- 
tractility and small size at greatest opening. 
The ectosome is a definite dermis over ex- 
tensive subdermal cavities. The endosome is 
a reticulation of spicular tracts 30 to 120 g 
in diameter, often about 65 g in diameter 
Each is packed with spicules, and may possi- 
bly, but not certainly, contain spongin. Dis- 
tally, each ends in a tuft or brush. There are 
astonishingly few interstitial megascleres. 
Fig. 15. Mycale cecilia, spicules, from a camera 
lucida drawing, X 333. A, style. B, sigmas. C, 
palmate anisochelas. 
The megascleres are tylostyles with long 
rather than wide heads; their sizes are 4 by 
250 to 6 by 240 g. The microscleres include 
commonplace sigmas 30 to 42 g in chord 
length, and palmate anisochelas. These latter 
are very narrow, so that in boiled-out spicule 
preparations all lie on their sides. Profile 
views are thus common but what one may 
call "face views” are rare and difficult to find. 
In most specimens these spicules are only 
15 g long, but in some specimens they range 
to at least 24 g. I found none in rosettes. 
There are close to a hundred species names 
left in Mycale, even after the partitioning of 
the genus undertaken previously (de Lau- 
benfels, 1936: 118). Only about 25 of these, 
however, have tylostyles rather than the usual 
styles as megascleres. The additional factor 
of very narrow anisochelas reduces the num- 
ber still further. 
