Catalogue of the Duchassaing & Michelotti (1864) collection of West Indian Sponges (Porifera)

A list is provided in which extant and lost specimens of the Duchassaing and Michelotti collection of West Indian Sponges (published 1864) are discussed. The numerous types and other specimens are housed in two institutions, viz. the Museo e Istituto di Zoologia Sistemática dell’Universitá di Torino, Italy, and the Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam; fragments of the Torino specimens are kept in the British Museum (Natural History), London, the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Of all extant specimens and fragments the whereabouts, collection numbers, references to recent redescriptions and the identity in modern context are given. With a few exceptions, species and genera not represented by specimens any more are declared unrecognizable. Of the original 150 named species and varieties a total of 96 are still represented by fragments or specimens.