Sponges of Palau, I— BERGQUIST 
141 
FIG. la. Dysidea herbacea (Keller). Lower left and right, Sta. 10; upper center, specimen from Tonga 
showing surface characteristics intermediate between Palau Is. specimens of D. herbacea and D. chlorea. 
purplish pink (yR 4/2) in the specimen from 
Sta. 60. The color in life appears to vary from 
gray to greenish depending upon the amount 
of algae in the sponge tissue. 
TEXTURE: Resembles that of soft leather. 
One specimen (Sta. 60) is tough and rigid; 
this sponge contains more and coarser detritus 
than any other examined. 
SURFACE: Finely conulose; individual con- 
ules range up to 0.4 mm high, with a tendency 
to be aligned in vertical rows which give an 
over-all slightly striated appearance to the 
sponge surface. This feature is most noticeable 
in the specimen from Sta. 10, but is discernible 
in patches on all specimens. 
skeleton: An open network of fibres cored 
with sand grains of extremely irregular dimen- 
sions. There is no distinction between primary 
and secondary fibres; the range in diameter is 
50-155 p. A layer of foreign material is present 
on both surfaces, 27-90/x deep and essentially 
contained within the dermal membrane, only 
rarely extending into the cortical region. In the 
specimen from Sta. 60, inclusions in the fibres 
are coarser and more irregular and here the 
superficial debris often extends into the body 
of the sponge. 
ENDOSOME:The skeleton is loose and the 
cortex relatively thin; consequently most of the 
thickness of the lamellae is endosome. Flagel- 
late chambers are abundant, oval, 54-120 X 
28-82 p and eurypylous; the collagenous endoso- 
mal matrix surrounding them is packed with 
blue-green algae. 
DISCUSSION: All specimens making up the 
type series of Phyllospongia complex de Lau- 
