Fig. 17.—Gemmule of Spongilla indica seen from the side (from type specimen), magnified.
| Average length of skeleton-spicules | 0.2046 mm. |
| Average breadth of skeleton-spicules | 0.0172 mm. |
| Average length of flesh-spicules | 0.053 mm. |
| Average breadth of flesh-spicules | 0.0053 mm. |
| Average length of gemmule-spicules | 0.044 mm. |
| Average breadth of gemmule-spicules | 0.0079 mm. |
S. indica is closely allied to S. sumatrana*, Weber, which has been found both in the Malay Archipelago and in East Africa. It may be distinguished by its blunt, almost truncated megascleres and comparatively slender gemmule-spicules.
Type in the Indian Museum.
Habitat, etc.—Growing, together with S. cinerea and Corvospongilla lapidosa, on the stone sides of an artificial conduit in the R. Godaveri at Nasik on the eastern side of the Western Ghats in the Bombay Presidency. The water was extremely dirty and was used for bathing purposes. The sponge was green where the light fell upon it, grey where it was in the shadow of the bridge under which the conduit ran. The only specimens I have seen were taken in November, 1907.
13. Spongilla bombayensis*, Carter. ([Plate II], fig. 2.)
Spongilla bombayensis, Carter, Ann. Nat. Hist. (5) x, p. 369, pl. xvi, figs. 1-6 (1882). Spongilla bombayensis, Annandale, Zool. Jahrb., Syst. xxvii, p. 562, figs. B, C (1909).
Sponge hard but friable, forming thin layers or cushions; its surface often irregular but without a trace of branches; its area never very great; oscula inconspicuous; external membrane adhering closely to the sponge; colour brownish or greyish.
