Sponges of Palau, I — BERGQUIST 
133 
Primary fibres are 63- 100 m in diameter; sec- 
ondaries, 10-32/*. No cortex of foreign material 
is developed over either surface of the lamellae, 
but numerous spicule fragments occur through- 
out the body of the sponge and in patches on 
the surface. The major part of the surface is 
clear of debris. 
CORTEX: A collenchymatous layer of varia- 
ble thickness, rich in spongin A and contain- 
ing many dark-staining cells with dendritic 
processes. The thickness of the cortex is com- 
parable on both surfaces of the lamellae vary- 
ing from 62—187/*. 
ENDOSOME: A remarkable feature of the 
endosome is the presence of quantities of a 
blue-green alga filling all available space be- 
tween flagellate chambers and canals. Flagellate 
chambers are slightly oval and are large for the 
Spongiidae, 37-65 X 32-42/* (36 X 47/*). De 
Laubenfels (1948) mentions in connection 
with the genus Th ore eta that large flagellate 
chambers are common; Polejaeff has described 
large flagellate chambers in his Phyllospongia 
radiata , I have found the chambers of P. f ali- 
as tens and Fasciospongia chondrodes from the 
Palau Islands to be in excess of 40/*. In view 
of the frequency with which large flagellate 
Fig. Ah. Phyllospongia dendyi Lendenfeld. Portion 
of the fibre network at right angles to the surface. 
chambers occur in sponges which undoubtedly 
belong to the Spongiidae, it is suggested that 
this feature should not be used to distinguish 
between the Spongiidae and the Dysideidae. 
Emphasis should be laid on the structure of 
the chamber system rather than on the abso- 
lute dimensions of individual units. 
DISCUSSION: No good description of Phyllo- 
spongia dendyi is available. Lendenfeld’s de- 
scriptions were based on dry specimens and 
Burton (1934) did not give any morphological 
details. There are several important differences 
between the Palau specimens and Lendenfeld’s 
description: (1) the Palau specimens lack fascic- 
ulate primary columns and special dermal fi- 
bres; (2) the primary fibres are up to 120/* 
wide in the Australian specimens, 99/* in the 
Palau specimen. Despite these differences, the 
habit of this sponge is distinctive and the broad 
features of its morphology are comparable with 
P. dendyi. On this basis the Palau sponge is 
referred to this species. De Laubenfels (1948) 
has referred P. dendyi to P. papyracea var. mac- 
r op ora. This view cannot be supported from 
Lendenfeld’s descriptions. It is useful to retain 
this species until a restudy of type material can 
confirm the identification. 
DISTRIBUTION: Australia (Lendenfeld, Bur- 
ton). 
GENUS Fasciospongia Burton 
Fasciospongia chondrodes ( de Laubenfels ) 
Ligs. Aa; 5 a, h 
Spongionella chondrodes de Laubenfels, 1954, 
p. 26, fig. 13. 
OCCURRENCE: Sta. 92, 92 A. 
DESCRIPTION : The type description ( de Lau- 
benfels, 1954) was based upon a fragment of a 
specimen distorted by the presence of numerous 
embryos and is therefore misleading in many 
details. 
The sponge grows as a series of intercon- 
nected lamellae from a thin spreading basal 
plate. Lrom both surfaces of the erect plates 
subsidiary phalanges arise sometimes forming 
small pouches, in other cases merely forming 
prominent ridges. There are three sponges de- 
scribed from the Palaus which have this dis- 
