Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/120

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A HISTORY OF SUSSEX corallines. When examined under the micro- scope it seems hardly to resemble bunches of grapes as the specific name would imply, but rather the fingers and shallow palm of an irregular glove, more particularly if we may suppose the fingers to give off other fingers, the ends being open to represent the oscula. The simple sponge is cylindrical, slightly swollen towards the end, with a wide para- gaster and osculum. From moderately deep water. Rare. Hastings. 2. Leumolenia {Jscon) lacunosa, Bowerbank. Sponge white, fig-shaped, compressed, with a short stem, and with large oval orifices occurring over the whole surface. Bower- bank describes this as a very rare sponge. The form of the Hastings specimen is some- what intermediate between Bowerbank's two figures. The dimensions are : Height of stem, 1-5 mm. ; body, 6'5 mm. ; greatest width, 6 mm.; lesser diameter, 3 mm. A single specimen only taken ; growing upon an Eudendrium. From moderately shallow water. Very rare. Hastings. 3. Grantia (Sycon) ciliata, Fleming. This is a simple sponge consisting of a small white cylinder, the surface bristling with defensive spicules which project in minute tufts over the blind ends of the radial canals. Around the terminal osculum there is a fringe of spicules which suggest the specific name. Specimens taken from the rocks at low water are fully double the size of those found upon corallines, etc., from deeper water, and are of a more attenuated form, and have the oscular spicules more conspicuous. Not un- common, but small. Hastings. 4. Grantia [Sycon) compressa, Fleming. This species forms little grey or tan coloured sacks, cylindrical to ovate in form, generally with a single osculum. Hastings specimens do not exceed li inches in height. Upon rocks at low tide ; not noted from deeper water. Not uncommon. Hastings. PLETHOSPONGIiE Rhagon 5. Ecionemia ponderosa, Bowerbank.* Hastings. 6. Ciociilypta penicillui, Bowerbank.* Hastings. 7. Ciocalypta, sp. A specimen taken from the rocks at low water. Mr. R. Kirkpatrick, of the British Museum of Natural History, who very kindly examined the specimen, expressed the opinion that it might possibly be a strongly marked variety in the young condition of C. peniclUus, though it showed much divergence from the typical adult sponge. The specimen is in the South Kensington Museum. Rare. Hastings. 8. Tethya lyncurlu)n, Johnston. Sponge hemispherical, about | inch in diameter ; surface warty-looking ; colour when fresh, orange. Upon rock from the Diamond Ground. Somewhat rare. Hastings. g. Raspailia cristata, Montague. Dktyocylindrus ramosus, Bowerbank. Sponge 4 or 5 inches in height ; brown, branching, and hispid with defensive spicules. The shoots before branching are often palmate. From moderately shallow water. Common. Hastings. 10. Raspailia ramosa, Montague. Not to be confounded with Dictyocylindrus ramosus of Bowerbank, the present species branching in the same plane, the branches being somewhat flattened. From the Dia- mond Ground. Rather rare. Hastings. 1 1 . Dictyocylindrus hispidus, Bowerbank. Sponge, light brown, hispid, dichotomously branching, the branches being in the same plane and curving inwards towards the ends. A fine specimen measures 12 inches in height. From the Diamond Ground. Some- what rare. Hastings. 12. Dictyocylindrus fascicu/aris, Bowerbank. Specimens a little over 5 inches in height, of a pale yellow colour, dichotomously branch- ing, the branches being slender and curving inwards towards the upper parts. A dried specimen might be readily mistaken for a dead twig. From the Diamond Ground. Somewhat rare. Hastings. 13. Dictyocylindrus radiosus, Bowerbank. Specimen 3^ inches in height, resembling to some extent D. hispida. The branching is dichotomous, and in the same plane, the branches being rather flattened and hispid, and instead of curving inwards, as in the last mentioned species, they expand in a radiating manner. From moderately deep water. Rare. Hastings. 14. Dictyocylindrus aculeatus (.), Bowerbank. The Hastings specimens are in the dried condition, and present little grey feathery