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"ENDEAVOUR" SCIENTIFIC EESULTS. 



form connects the accessory with the principal styli. 

 MegascJeres: — {i.) Smooth principal styli; maximum 

 size, joo X lo {i; (/;.) acantho styles, minutely spined, 

 seldom exceeding go x 6 ji ; (Hi.) auxiliary subtylostyli; 

 maximum size, j8o x 6 p. Microscleres :~--Flexuous hair- 

 Uke spicides (^modified toxa), fairly abundant; maximum 

 length, at least 2^0 }i. 



This species is represented in the collection 

 by a single dry washed-out specimen, of leat- 

 like form. The lamina is elliptical in outline, 

 and measures 300 mm. in breadth, by 200 

 mm. in height ; the stalk is short, stout, and 

 proximally swollen. Both surfaces of the 

 lamina are elegantly ridged and furrowed, 

 over their entire extent, along lines which 

 radiate curvately from the junction of stalk 

 and lamina. The grooves are 2 to 5 mm. in 

 width; the intervening "ridges," which are 

 much compressed (septiform) and somewhat 

 jagged, measure i to 4 mm. in height. Be- 

 tween the ridges the lamina is comparativelv 

 thin and, in the present condition of the 

 sponge, perforated by frequent rounded open- 

 ings up to 2 mm. in diameter. The consis- 

 tencx' is firm and tough ; the texture fibrous. 



The main skeleton is a close-meshed net- 



. work of strongly-developed horny fibres, the 



stoutest of which attain a diameter of about 



100 }i; the connecting fibres are free from 



'Pig- 44~C. iosfi- contained spicules. Echinatins' acanthostlves 



fera. a Principnl 



are scarce. 



In the central reeion of the 



styles, b Auxili- . . , , . , . , 



ary subtylostyle ^PO'^g^) '•''• j ^^ ^he lamma proper, the reticula- 

 c Acaiithostyles. tion is irregular and confused ; intrafibral 

 dTrichitoidal mi- spicules are here comparatively iew in num- 



• croscleres (modi- j^gj-^ ^nd the distinction between main and 

 oxaj. connecting fibres is often obscure. In the 



surface "ridges," on the other hand, the 

 main fibres run in close and fairly regular sub-parallelism, 

 and, owing to their contained spicules, stand out rather 

 conspicuously in comparison with the short aspiculous 

 transverse fibres. The fibral spicules, though almost 

 exclusively principal styli, may yet at times include a 

 considerable proportion of auxiliary t}lostyli. Between 

 the fibres, more particularly in the central region of the 

 sponge-lamina, megascleres occur in great profusion ; they 



^consist chiefly of auxiliary spicules, which are often clustered 



