﻿I :^o -EKDEAVOUK" SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



dermal, or rather sub-dermal, tufts are sometimes prolonged 

 below into strands which may descend for a moderate distance 

 towards the base of the sponge. A remarkable feature of the 

 species is the occurrence of small irregularly monilated rods, 

 scattered in the ground substance. The rods are apparently 

 proper to the sponge — at any rate they are siliceous ; they are 

 possibly homologous with the forcipes of Forcepia. The acan- 

 thostyles vary in length from about 80 to 240 p and may attain 

 a diameter of 17 j/. ihey are covered, except for a varying 

 distance from the pointed end, with relatively short and stout 

 ri'curved spines. The microscleric rods are 20 to 50 n long and, 

 even in their most swollen portions, rarely as much as 5 p in 

 diameter. The oxea are very abruptly and often acuminately 

 pointed spicules ranging in length from about 80 to 180 j<, 

 though rarely less than 100 j^, or more than 160 ^ long; the 

 stoutest are 8 ;i in diameter. The chelae are very abundant ; 

 they usually haxt a much curved shaft, so that the extremities 

 of the anterior teeth approach each other very closely and 

 sometimes overlap or fuse ; size variable, the length ranging 

 from 10 to 24;^. The dimensions of the spicules given above 

 differ slightly from those given by Whitelegge, so that prob- 

 ably some amount of variation in their size occurs in different 

 specimens. 



It is of interest to note that }[icr(>cioua scabida, Carter, ^ 

 •differs from Clatlirissa mainly through the possession of sty- 

 lote, instead of diactinal auxiliary spicules. The microscleres 

 are chela? apparently of three or four kinds, viz. : — (i.) a stout 

 isochela arcuata, 30 p long ; (ii.) a smaller slender isochela with 

 cur\ed shaft and very sharply pointed flukes, which occurs in 

 great abundance; (iii.) a cheloid with much curved shaft, 

 which appears to be an abnormality of the first-mentioned ; 

 and (iv.) a peculiar cheloid also with much curved shaft and of 

 smaller size than the others, which apparently belongs to the 

 same category as certain of the forms termed bipocilla, but 

 which may be a derivative of the second kind. As my object 

 in referring to this species is merely to draw attention to its 

 relationship with CJathrissa on the one hand and with Stylo- 

 tellopsis on the other I ha^■e not undertaken the possibly diffi- 

 cult task of determining the precise nature of these cheloids. 

 The fibres are echinated and to some extent cored, by acantho- 

 stvles of two orders of size, the smaller rarely exceeding say 

 iio/t in length, the larger reaching to 220 x y ji. The coring 

 spicules are chiefly straight slender subtylostyli, of which the 



1 Dendy— Proc. Roy. Soc. Vict., viii. (n.s.), 1896, p. 31; Carter— Ann. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. (5), xv.. 1885, p. 112, figs. 4, 5. 



