34 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IV, January, 1950 
kinks, so that they are probably triacts with 
one ray lost and the other two brought into 
nearly the same line. 
This species was first discovered by Schulze 
in the Mediterranean (1880: 430). Some- 
one (Dendy, I believe) found it again in an 
East Indian collection. I have found it in 
the West Indies (Tortugas) and in Bermuda, 
and now in two places here. It is probable 
that it is not so rare as it is simply overlooked 
because of being dull, drab, and thin; one 
might say it is camouflaged on the rocks that 
it normally inhabits. 
Leucetta solida (Schmidt) Dendy and Row 
Fig. 23 
In Kaneohe Bay in particular, and through- 
out the Hawaiian Archipelago in general, 
small fragmentary calcareous sponges are 
very commonly found, usually growing on 
dead coral in shallow water, but also down 
to at least 50 meters depth (in my experi- 
ence). These fragments are chiefly of a spe- 
cies that is clearly a Leucetta. A few calcare- 
ous sponges that are of other genera have 
been found in the Archipelago, but not yet 
in Kaneohe Bay. 
The genus Leucetta is outstanding in the 
class Calcispongiae for its morphological re- 
semblance to those sponges that are typical 
of the class Demospongiae. Most calcareous 
sponges have symmetrical, cylindrical shapes, 
with large central cloacal hollows, so that 
they are somewhat like the sponges of the 
class Hyalospongiae. It is common to find 
Leucetta species that are taken for Demo- 
spongiae until the acid test is applied to the 
(calcareous) spicules. 
The genus Leucetta is cosmopolitan, espe- 
cially common in the Antarctic and also in 
equatorial waters around the world. Some 
18 species are commonly recognized. Of 
these, a few are unique; a new genus may 
indeed be needed for Leucetta trigona. Many 
others are separated by very small differences 
and may eventually prove to be conspecific. 
Fig. 23. Leucetta solida (?), spicules, from a 
camera lucida drawing, X 333. A, portion of one 
of the larger triaxons. B, common triaxons of 
smaller size. C, alate triaxon. D, tetraxon. 
I do not yet have material adequate for a 
proper evaluation of the Hawaiian Leucetta, 
unless it be a specific characteristic that it 
should always seem to be just a fragment of 
a sponge. These specimens are usually amor- 
phous, about as large as beans, white, fragile, 
and full of triaxon spicules of two size ranges. 
These traits are true of practically all species 
in the genus. The larger spicules have rays 
100 to 120 g thick and 660 to 960 g long 
and thus are visible to the unaided eye. The 
smaller ones have rays 6 to 10 g thick and 
70 to 110 g long. A few intermediates are 
probably developmental forms of the larger 
size range. I found one lone tetraxon, of the 
smaller size range. This may have been an 
accidental malformation, or an accidental 
(foreign) inclusion. Again, one must note 
that many calcispongias have such spicules 
in the lining of a cloaca, but not elsewhere. 
I have not yet found a cloaca in a specimen 
which is for certain one that occurs in Kane- 
ohe Bay; however, it may be that a cloaca is 
part of this sponge’s full complement of 
traits, and will be discovered later. 
On March 29, 1948, I found a calcisponge 
on the bottom of a barge in dry dock at Pearl 
Harbor. It had a cloaca lined with small 
tetraxons. It may or may not be the Leucetta 
that is locally widespread; more study is 
required. 
Of all the species names available in the 
genus Leucetta, the oldest is solida. Schmidt 
(1862: 18) described Grantia solida from 
the Mediterranean. Dendy and Row (1913: 
