﻿SPONGES.-HALLMANN. 287 



spicule; but, as in Echitioclialina rcliciilata (text-fig. 66), there 

 usuall)' occur in any specimen transitional forms between the 

 tornostyles and strongyles. 



In the three varieties {niacropora, intermedia and micropora) 

 distinguished by Lendenfeld, the greatest width of the meshes 

 enclosed by the reticulating lamellae were stated to be 7 mm., 

 5 mm. and 3 mm. respectixely ; but, as mentioned above, there 

 is great variability in this respect, and e\en in single speci- 

 mens I have found the meshes to vary in width so much as 

 from 4 to 13 mm. 



Lendenfeld has described in his Monograph two other 

 species of Aulena, A. laxa and .4. crassa. The sponges of the 

 former species, regarded by Lendenfeld as embracing twt) 

 varieties — the types of which, I suppose, are in the British 

 Museum — will possibly prove to be merely growth-forms of 

 E. gigaritea; according to the original descriptions of the 

 species, auxiliary megascleres are absent, but in two Aus- 

 tralian Museum specimens which Lendenfeld has identified as 

 A. laxa, and which presumably are two of those referred to 

 by him under that name in his Catalogue (1888), I find 

 scattered auxiliary strongyla. 



Aulena crassa, of which I have examined specimens that 

 come from the type-locality (Port Phillip) and agree very well 

 with the description, is quite distinct from E. gigantea and 

 presumably also from E. arenijera ;i its chief distinguishing 

 features are the concealment from external view of its "cell- 

 apertures" by a covering membrane, and its brittleness and 

 friability in the dry state. Its correct name may be accepted 

 for the present as Echinoclaihria crassa, Lendenfeld {non 

 Carter) ; lout the specific name perhaps should be altered, since 

 the HoJopsamma crassa"^ of Carter, with which Lendenfeld 

 partly identified the species, is evidently more entitled to be 

 identified with and to confer its name upon the sponge now 

 known as Psammopemma crassnm. 



Locs. — The specimens in the Australian Museum Collection 

 were collected from various parts of the New South Wales 

 coast from Jervis Bay on the south to Sandon Bluffs on the 

 north; a number of specimens were obtained by the "Endea- 

 vour" at the last-mentioned locality at a depth of 35-40 fms. 

 Specimens are very commonly found upon the beaches after 

 storms. Lendenfeld records the species also from Port Phillip, 

 Victoria, and from Fremantle, Western Australia. 



1 Carter— Ann Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), xvi., 1885, p. .^50; Dendy— Proc. Roy. 



Soc. Vict., viii. (n.s.), 1896, p 40. 



2 Carter— Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5). xv.. 1884, p. 211. 



