[Footnote AI: This locality is often referred to in
zoological literature as Kawkare_et_ or Kawkari_t_, or even
K_o_kari_t_.]
20. Trochospongilla pennsylvanica* (_Potts_).
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, Potts, P. Ac. Philad. 1882, p. 14.
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, _id._, _ibid._ 1887, p. 251, pl.
vi, fig. 2, pl. xii, figs. 1-3.
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, Mackay, Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada,
1889, Sec. iv, p. 95.
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, Hanitsch, Nature, li, p. 511
(1895).
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, Weltner, Arch. Naturg. lxi (i), p.
128 (1895).
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, Hanitsch, Irish Natural. iv, p. 129
(1895).
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, Annandale, J. Linn. Soc., Zool.,
xxx, p. 248 (1908).
_Tubella pennsylvanica_, _id._, Rec. Ind. Mus. iii, p. 102
(1909).
_Tubella_ _pennsylvanica_, _id._, P. U.S. Mus. xxxvii, p.
403, fig. 2 (1909).
_Sponge_ soft, fragile, forming small cushion-shaped masses, grey or
green; oscula few in number, often raised on sloping eminences
surrounded by radiating furrows below the external membrane; external
membrane adhering to the parenchyma.
_Skeleton_ close, almost structureless. "Surface of mature specimens
often found covered with parallel skeleton spicules, not yet arranged to
form cell-like interspaces" (_Potts_).
_Spicules._ Skeleton-spicules slender, cylindrical, almost straight,
sharp or blunt, minutely, uniformly or almost uniformly spined; spines
sometimes absent at the tips. No flesh-spicules. Gemmule-spicules with
the lower rotula invariably larger than the upper; both rotulæ flat or
somewhat sinuous in profile, usually circular but sometimes asymmetrical
or subquadrate in outline, varying considerably in size.
_Gemmules_ small, numerous or altogether absent, covered with a granular
pneumatic coat of variable thickness; the rotulæ of the gemmule-spicules
overlapping and sometimes projecting out of the granular coat.
The measurements of the spicules and gemmules of an Indian specimen and
of one from Lehigh Gap, Pennsylvania, are given for comparison:--
Travancore. Pennsylvania.
Length of skeleton-spicules 0.189-0.242 mm. 0.16-0.21 mm.
(average 0.205 mm.) (average 0.195 mm.)
Breadth " " 0.0084-0.0155 mm. 0.0084 mm.
Length of birotulate 0.0126 " 0.0099 "
Diameter of upper rotula 0.0084 " 0.0084 "
" lower " 0.0169 " 0.0168 "
" gemmule 0.243-0.348 mm. 0.174-0.435 mm.
The spicules of the Travancore specimen are, therefore, a trifle larger
than those of the American one, but the proportions are closely similar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account