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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IX, April, 1955 
that received my number 52011. The field 
notes describe it as being a sponge that looked 
like a piece of red flannel. Microscopic ex- 
amination revealed that it was a piece of red 
flannel. 
DISCUSSION OF THE COLLECTION 
1. Spongia officinalis Linne, subspecies ma- 
tamata deLaubenfels 
Two specimens were taken by Cloud on 
August 21 and 24. The first, my number 
52064, was at a depth of 25 cm. below low 
tide, 810 meters N.E. of the monument on 
Aonteuma, N.W. Onotoa. The second, my 
number 52009, was at unspecified depth on a 
traverse from beach outward to reef front, 
opposite the Pacific Science Board camp site 
south of the Government Station on the 
north main island. 
The species ( officinalis ) is circumequatorial 
in warm waters. The subspecies is described 
in deLaubenfels (1954: 4), and is widespread 
throughout the Marshall Islands. It was found, 
but uncommon, at Ponape. It is potentially 
a useful commercial variety. 
2. Spongia zimocca Schmidt, subspecies 
canaliculata Lendenfeld 
Two specimens were taken by Cloud on 
July 24 and August 5. The first, my number 
52072, was off the end of the jetty at the 
Government Station at Baraitan, and was in 
poor condition at the time of collection, so 
that its identification is provisional. The sec- 
ond was a very large specimen, given special 
treatment. It was taken at a depth of slightly 
more than 2 meters, in an area of Thalassia — 
Microdictyon concentration, 550 meters S-SW 
from the Beach at TeKawa L.M.S. church. 
The species ( zimocca ) is circumequatorial in 
warm waters. The variety canaliculata was de- 
scribed by Lendenfeld (1885: 502) from Aus- 
tralia. I found zimocca common in eelgrass- 
turtlegrass associations at depths of less than 
1 meter in Ponape and the Palaus, but these 
all seemed to be the subspecies irregularis 
Lendenfeld (1885: 485) also from Australia. 
This variety has been considered common 
throughout the Australian, Indian Ocean, 
East Indian, and Philippine regions. The dis- 
tinguishing feature of canaliculata is the height 
of the rims about the oscules; they become 
erect tubes. This may be an ecologic modi- 
fication. Some varieties of zimocca have com- 
mercial value, but neither irregularis nor the 
Australian canaliculata are especially valuable. 
3. Dysidea fragilis (Montagu) Johnston 
This sponge was taken by Cloud August 
21, my number 52048, at a depth of 25 cm. 
below low tide, 810 meters N.E. of the monu- 
ment on Aonte uma, N.W. Onotoa. It is 
cosmopolitan, occurring not only in the 
equatorial regions, but also in all seas except 
the Arctic and Antarctic. In the islands of the 
West Central Pacific, however, I found it only 
at Ailing-lap-lap of the Marshalls. It is re- 
described, based on that occurrence, by de- 
Laubenfels (1954:35). 
4. Dysidea chlorea deLaubenfels 
This sponge was taken August 15 by 
Banner, my number 52013. It was named and 
described by deLaubenfels (1954: 37), being 
common at Ebon Atoll of the Marshalls, but 
not elsewhere. 
5. Thorectopsamma mela deLaubenfels 
Several specimens were taken July 24 by 
Cloud, and August 2 and 9 by Banner. The 
first, my number 52071, was from off the end 
of the jetty at the Government Station, Barai- 
tan. The others were my numbers 52005, 
52065 and 52070. 
Described by deLaubenfels in 1954 (p. 29), 
this species is one of the most abundant in 
the West-Central Pacific. It was common on 
most of the Marshall Islands (but not at 
Majuro), for example at Ebon, Ailing-lap-lap, 
Likiep and Eniwetok, also in the Carolines at 
Ponape and Truk, and in the Palaus. It ap- 
