_Gemmules._ The gemmules are firmly adherent to the support of the
sponge, at the base of which they are congregated in groups of four or
more. They vary considerably in size and shape, many of them being
asymmetrical and some elongate and sausage-shaped. The latter consist of
single gemmules and not of a pair in one case. Extreme forms measure
0.38 × 0.29 and 0.55 × 0.25. Each gemmule is covered with a thick
chitinous membrane in close contact with its wall and surrounding it
completely. This membrane is full of spicules arranged as in a mosaic;
most or all of them belong to the smaller type, and as a rule they are
fairly uniform in size. Separated from this layer by a considerable
interval is another layer of spicules embedded in a chitinous membrane
which is in continuity with the basal membrane of the sponge. The
spicules in this membrane mostly belong to the larger type and are very
variable in size; mingled with them are often a certain number of
birotulate flesh-spicules. The membrane is in close contact with a dense
cage of skeleton-spicules arranged parallel to it and bound together by
chitinous substance. The walls of this cage, when they are in contact
with those of the cages of other gemmules, are coterminous with them.
There is a single depressed aperture in the gemmules, as a rule situated
on one of the longer sides.
This sponge is distinguished from _C. burmanica_ not only by differences
in external form, in the proportions of the spicules and the structure
of the skeleton, but also by the peculiar nature of the armature of the
gemmule. The fact that birotulate spicules are often found in close
association with them, is particularly noteworthy.
TYPE in the Indian Museum.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.--This sponge has only been found in the
Western Ghats of the Bombay Presidency. _Localities_:--Igatpuri Lake and
the R. Godaveri at Nasik.
BIOLOGY.--There is a remarkable difference in external form between the
specimens taken in Igatpuri and those from Nasik, and this difference is
apparently due directly to environment. In the lake, the waters of which
are free from mud, the sponges were growing on the lower surface of
stones near the edge. They formed small crusts not more than about 5 cm.
(2 inches) in diameter and of a pale greyish colour. Their surface was
flat or undulated gently, except round the oscula where it was raised
into sharply conical eminences with furrowed sides. The specimens from
Nasik, which is about 30 miles from Igatpuri, were attached, together
with specimens of _Spongilla cinerea_ and _S. indica_, to the sides of a
stone conduit full of very muddy running water. They were black in
colour, formed broad sheets and were markedly corrugated on the surface.
Their oscula were not raised on conical eminences and were altogether
most inconspicuous. The skeleton was also harder than that of sponges
from the lake.
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