Hawaiian Sponges — DE LAUBENFELS 
239 
Fig. 4. Camera lucida drawing (X 635) of spicules 
of Axechina lissa : a, Microspined oxea; b, tylostyle; 
c, style; d, freehand sketch of the sponge X 0.3. 
tional Museum, dredged 14 February 1948, 
near Koko Head, Oahu. It is ramose, with 
cylindrical dendritic branches 3 mm. in diam- 
eter, reaching a height of 7 cm. The color in 
life was a deep pink, which color was briefly 
transferred to the alcohol in which it was 
preserved. The surface is comparatively 
smooth, with no evident oscules, but with 
abundant pores each about 100 microns diam- 
eter, about 25 pores per square millimeter. 
There is a fleshy dermis about 20 microns 
thick. The spherical flagellate chambers are 
25 to 30 microns in diameter. The endosome 
contains a reticulation of keratose fibers 12 to 
30 microns in diameter, most commonly 
about 15 microns diameter. The smaller ones 
are cored by a single row of spicules, the large 
ones by as many as three spicules per cross 
section. The mesh of the reticulation is 50 to 
100 microns in diameter, most often about 65 
microns. The reticulation forms an axial core 
to the branches, about 1 mm. in diameter, 
but whereas it is generally a rather dense core, 
in places it opens to form a central hollow as 
much as 0.7 mm. diameter. 
The spicules which lie in, or "core,” the 
fibers are microspined oxeas, about 4 to 90 
microns in dimensions. There are many 
smooth styles perpendicular both to the axial 
specialization and to the surface of the sponge, 
in plumose fashion, points out. These range 
from 6 X 185 microns as illustrated, up to 7 
X 270 microns. There are also present thin 
tylostyles, often parallel to the axial speciali- 
zation, their points towards the apices of the 
branches. These are typically 1 X 135 to 1.5 
X 160 microns in dimensions. 
This is the second species for the genus 
Axechina , which was established by Hentschel 
(1912: 417) for the species raspailioides from 
the East Indies. That and the present species 
agree in the raspailoid habitus, with an axial 
specialization of fibers cored with acantho- 
xeas, surrounded by radially placed smooth 
styles. Hentschel’s species also had thin styles 
as long as 2200 microns, whereas the present 
sponge has instead the much smaller tylo- 
styles. The East Indian sponge was strongly 
hispid, whereas the Hawaiian one is com- 
paratively smooth; the specific name that is 
applied here is based on the Greek word for 
"smooth.” 
Eurypon distincta (Thiele) de Laubenfels 
Sponges thus dubiously identified were 
dredged 14 February 1948 south of Diamond 
Head (Honolulu) at a depth of 75 meters, 
and 19 February 1948 south of Pearl Harbor, 
depth 50 meters. These were lipostomous 
crusts 100 to 300 microns thick, comparatively 
smooth, but microscopically hispid. This lat- 
ter character results from a series of smooth 
tylostyles which generally are erect upon the 
substratum, points up. These spicules range 
from 10 to (generally) 17 microns thick, by 
1000 or more microns long. Among them are 
numerous acanthostyles 6 X 75 to 8 X 60 
microns in dimensions. 
Fig. 5. Camera lucida drawing (X 635) of spicules 
of the sponge identified as Eurypon distincta : a , Head 
portion only of a tylostyle, showing the double-headed 
condition that frequently occurred in Hawaiian spec- 
imens thus identified; b , acanthostyle. 
These specimens were a lovely blue in life, 
but after preservation the color faded and the 
sponges could not be found on the masses of 
coralline material upon which they grew. It 
had been intended to describe them as a new 
species, based on the color, but this now 
seems inappropriate. 
