Sponges of Palau, I — BERGQUIST 
191 
types of oxeas occur. The larger make up the 
bulk of the skeleton; the finer, smaller spicules 
occur principally in the endosome, in and be- 
tween the radial tracts and less abundantly in 
the cortex where they are scattered tangentially. 
There is no well-defined layer of cortical oxeas. 
SPICULES: Megascleres. Oxeas of two size 
groups: (a) large, straight, evenly tapered to 
sharp points, occasionally stylote; 737-1712 X 
11-30 / 1 (1272 X 18.7/0, and (b) small, fine 
identical in form to the larger; 200-587 X 1.5- 
3.5/* (356 X 3.5/*). 
Microscleres. Euasters, occasionally modified 
to strongylasters, with 8-15 rays and centrum 
with diameter approximately one third the 
length of the rays; 5.2— 12/x (8/x). 
DISCUSSION: Dendy (1916:252) gives an ex- 
cellent synopsis of the early history of the gen- 
eric nomenclature of Jaspis Gray and Coppatias 
Sollas, and his conclusions as to the synonymy 
of these genera have been supported by all later 
authors. Stellettinopsis coriacea Carter is the 
type species of Coppatias Sollas and is thus, 
presumably, entirely typical of Jaspis except 
that there is slightly greater organization of 
the skeleton into radial tracts. The Palau speci- 
men indicates that this feature is extremely 
variable, being somewhat dependent upon the 
habit of the sponge. 
Jaspis coriacea from the Palau Islands corre- 
sponds in detail with Carter’s rather fragmentary 
type description, the only discrepancy being the 
slightly larger size of the smaller oxeas. Dendy 
(1916) has commented on the difficulty of de- 
ciding whether these spicules are microscleres 
or megascleres. In view of their shape, size, 
and disposition in the Palau specimen, it is 
likely that they are megascleres. 
DISTRIBUTION: South Australia (Carter). 
ORDER CHORISTIDA Sollas 
FAMILY ANCORINIDAE Gray 
SUBFAMILY ANCORININAE de Laubenfels 
Ancorina acervus ( Bowerbank ) 
Fig. 31*, b 
RESTRICTED SYNONYMY: 
Ecionemia acervus Bowerbank, 1862, p. 1101, 
pi. Ixxiii, fig. 1. 
Ecionemia acervus Bowerbank, 1873, p. 322, 
pi. xxx, figs. 1-6. 
Stelletta bacillifera Carter, 1887, p. 78, pi. vi, 
figs. 9-14. 
Ecionemia bacillifera Burton, 1937, p. 5, pi. 
l,fig.2. 
Hezekia walkeri de Laubenfels, 1954, p. 236, 
fig. 163. 
Ecionemia spinastra Levi, 1958, p. 8, fig. 3. 
Ecionemia acervus Burton, 1959, p. 194. 
OCCURRENCE: Sta. 220A Palau (two large 
specimens); Ifaluk 32F; 41D; 42D (2 speci- 
mens); 49C; 50B; 65D; 87F; 88E; 197-198C; 
208C; 344; 690 (2 specimens); 798. 15 
DESCRIPTION: An encrusting to massive 
sponge which in the present collections is grow- 
ing upon coral fragments, bivalve shells, and 
Halimeda. The size range is considerable, from 
a small hemispherical sponge (Ifaluk 41-D5) 
to a massive specimen (220A-1) unfortunately 
incomplete, but at least 120 cm long and 5 cm 
thick. 
COLOR: De Laubenfels (1954) gives field 
observations on the color of this sponge and 
the range that he quotes covers all color vari- 
ants listed by Burton (1937). The Palau and 
Ifaluk specimens are grayish to fawn in alco- 
hol, between (yYR 8/2) and yYR 6/2). The 
surface is irregularly mottled with dark brown 
R-Y-R 3/2 in almost all specimens. 
SURFACE: Appears generally smooth and 
15 Station data for Ifaluk localities : 
32F. Sept. 4, 1953. Reef east of the south end of 
Falarik Island. Intertidal. 
4 ID, 42D, 49C, 50B. Sept. 17, 1953. Reef east of 
the south end of Falarik Island. Covered by a few 
inches of water at low tide. 
65D. Sept. 21, 1953. Western reef between Elanga- 
lap islet and the north end of Falarik Island. Intertidal. 
87F, 88E. Sept. 29, 1953. Inner reef flat, 70 ft from 
shore; reef east of the south end of Falarik Island. 
Intertidal. 
197-198C. Oct. 31, 1953. Reef east of the east end 
of the channel between Falarik and Falalap. Intertidal. 
208C. Sept. 30, 1953. SW reef between Ella and 
Elangalap islets. 4-20 ft. 
344. Sept. 20, 1953. Seaward shore of Elangalap. 
Lowtide. 
690. Oct. 22, 1953- Seaward reef at south end of 
Falarik. 
798. Oct. 31, 1953. South end of Falarik, seaward 
reef. 
