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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XI, April, 1957 
Thiele (1903: 956) described a sponge as 
Hymeraphia distincta from the East Indies. 
This was transferred to Eurypon by de Lauben- 
fels (1936: 110). Thiele does not cite the color 
in life, but the spicules of his distincta are 
similar to those of the Hawaiian sponges now 
being discussed. 
There is a sound criticism for the dubious 
identification that is here made: it tends to 
indicate a faunal relationship between Hawaii 
and the East Indies that is not certainly valid. 
It is more likely that the vivid blue Hawaiian 
Eurypon specimens really do represent a dis- 
tinctive species. 
Microciona haematodes new species 
This species was dredged 10 April 1949 
near Kaena Point, Oahu, at a depth of more 
than 200 meters. It was growing on other 
sponges, of the genera Stellettinopsis and Dory- 
pleres (q.v.). Quite likely it also grew on other 
substrates in the vicinity, but was not picked 
up by the dredge except on the more massive 
sponges. It was a persistently thin crust much 
less than a millimeter thick but spreading 
laterally indefinitely. A number of patches 
were visible, each about as large as a postage 
Fig. 6. Camera lucida drawing (X 635) of spicules 
of Microciona haematodes'. a , Tylostyle; b, style; c, acan- 
thostyle; d , isochela; e, toxa, perhaps foreign. 
stamp, and nearly as thin. They were con- 
spicuous because of their blood-red color. 
The name proposed here is derived from the 
Greek, meaning "blood stained." The spec- 
imens are to be deposited in the U. S. Na- 
tional Museum. 
As is characteristic of such thin sponges, 
little can be said as to consistency, oscules, 
and pores. The skeleton is completely con- 
sistent with placement in the genus Micro- 
ciona , and yet is remarkable. Typical members 
of this genus have a principal skeleton of 
smooth styles or subtylostyles arranged as 
fibers or tracts. The present species does con- 
tain a few, but only a few smooth styles, 
scattered and secondary. Typical Microciona 
has the tracts or fibers echinated by acantho- 
styles, which are generally scanty in numbers, 
even to the point of being difficult to find. 
The present species instead has principally 
acanthostyles of the echinating sort. 
Comparison with the genus Myxilla is in- 
teresting. In that genus the spicules that 
apparently should be principal are rare, and 
the spiny echinating spicules abound. In 
Myxilla and in haematodes these acantho- 
styles form a distinctive isodictyal reticulation 
with many parallel spicules on each side of 
the triangular or polygonal meshes. This has 
been compared to a number of rooms built 
"log-cabin" style. In Myxilla , however, the 
dermal spicules are diactinal, whereas haema- 
todes has monactinal ectospicules as in Micro- 
ciona. The present species has palmate iso- 
chelas as typical of Microciona , but astonish- 
ingly almost or quite lacks the toxas that are 
present in nearly all species of Microciona; 
one was found, but was not certainly proper. 
Spicule dimensions are as follows: dermal 
tylostyles 2 X 200 to 4 X 400, generally 3 X 
300 microns; smooth styles of the "coring" 
type 8 X 270 microns; acanthostyles 6 X 80 
to 6 X 100 microns; palmate isochelas 15 
microns long. 
Microciona maunaloa de Laubenfels 
This species has been reported (de Lauben- 
fels 1951: 260) as occurring around the Island 
of Hawaii. A rather typical specimen was 
collected in Oahu 27 September 1947 in 
Waialua Bay at a depth between 4 and 8 
meters. A Microciona collected 19 February 
1948 south of Pearl Harbor may have been 
this species, but its toxas (?) were only once- 
bent instead of being the usual thrice-bent 
shape. 
