Sponges of Palau, I— Bergquist 
165 
thicker oxeas and Carter gave no range in di- 
mensions for his specimens. Only Carter and 
de Laubenfels have reported the life color of 
their specimens; in both cases they were yellow. 
Examination of a spicule mount of the type of 
Histoderma vesiculatum Dendy (bm 1907.2.1. 
60) reveals greater variation in the dimensions 
of the oxeas than reported by Dendy and leaves 
no doubt that this species is synonymous with 
P. singaporense . Burton (1934) erected the 
genus Coelocarteria for P. singaporense . No later 
authors have used this genus. 8 De Laubenfels 
(1934) referred H vesiculatum Dendy to Coe - 
losphaerella f a genus defined as having toxas; 
he later (1954) erected a new genus, Ichnodo- 
nax, to receive a Palau sponge, 1. kapne , which 
is now considered synonymous with Coelocar- 
teria singaporense Carter. 
Levi ( 1961 ) considers H vesiculatum Dendy 
to be a synonym of P. singaporense , which he 
referred to Ichnodonax as a species distinct 
from l. kapne . A tabulation of the salient char- 
acters recorded by all authors for C. singapor- 
ense and its synonyms (Table 5 ) affords little 
basis for retaining more than a single species, 
which has a general Indo-Pacific distribution. 
distribution: Singapore (Carter); Torres 
St. (Ridley); China Sea (Lindgren); Ternate 
(Thiele); Ceylon (Dendy); Palau Islands (de 
Laubenfels); Zamboanga (Levi). 
suborder MYXILLIFORMES de Laubenfels 
FAMILY TEDANIIDAE Ridley and Dendy 
GENUS lotrochota Ridley 
lotrockota Ridley, 1884, p. 433. 
Hiattrochota de Laubenfels, 1950, p. 19. 
lotrochota baculifera Ridley 
lotrochota baculifera Ridley, 1884, p. 435, pi. 
XXXIX, fig. M, pi. XLII, fig. F. 
lotrochota baculifera Thiele, 1899, p. 18. 
Hiattrochota baculifera de Laubenfels, 1954, 
p. 124, fig. 77. 
8 De Laubenfels (1936) states ff Coelocarteria Bur- 
ton has many monaxons, that is to say, styles.” This is 
not the case; occasional stylote modifications of oxeote 
spicules have been reported for Coelocarteria singa- 
porense, but styles do not constitute a major propor- 
tion of the skeleton. 
Hiattrochota hiatti de Laubenfels, 1954, p. 
125, fig. 78. 
Hiattrochota mystile de Laubenfels, 1954, p. 
126, fig. 79. 
OCCURRENCE: Sta. 236A. 
DESCRIPTION: Only two tiny specimens are 
in the Palau collection, both encrusting upon 
Clathria fasciculata; one is intact and has the' 
variable surface features which characterize this 
species. The color reported by de Laubenfels for 
Hiattrochota mystile , to which this specimen 
compares most closely, is black in life. In alco- 
hol both the type (USNM 23018) and the Palau 
specimens are deep purplish-red (R 3/4). 
The spicule dimensions conform closely to 
those of the type of H, mystile. 
Megascleres. Strongyles, 225-255 X 3.5— 
5.0p. Styles, 125-180 X 5.5-7.5/x. 
Microscleres. Birotulae, 13—16.5/* usually 
with twelve teeth at each end; some ap- 
pear to have only eight. 
DISCUSSION: Several specimens of lotrochota 
have been examined to determine whether the 
constantly recurring strongyles were localized 
at the surface; for if this is so, the genus Hiat- 
trochota de Laubenfels cannot be maintained. 
In l. hirotulata from Jamaica, l. baculifera from 
Bora Bora, the Palau specimens, and the holo- 
type of Hiattrochota mystile there is a consist- 
ently higher proportion of strongyles to styles 
in dermal spicule preparations, and, although 
the pigmentation of these sponges somewhat 
obscures detail in sections, it appears that all 
tangential dermal spicules are strongyles. 
The type species of Hiattrochota , H. protea 
from Hawaii, is probably a synonym of 1. bacu- 
lifera; the only features which distinguish it 
are the massive form and the absence of a well- 
defined skeleton of spicule tracts. For the pres- 
ent H. protea is retained as a separate species 
of lotrochota. H. ditrocha from the Palau Is- 
lands also seems sufficiently distinct to remain 
as a separate species; it is ramose to repent in 
form and is reported to contain raphides. 
The genus lotrochota was grouped by de Lau- 
benfels (1936) with his Desmacidonidae; it is 
obviously better to regard this genus as a myxil- 
lid in which some species ( e.g., 1. purpurea ) 
have lost the ectosomal spicules. This is essen- 
