﻿SPONGES- KALLMANN. 



259 



Styli similar to those which core the fibres, i.e., principal 

 styli, occur in moderate number, both as echinating^ and as 

 interstitial spicules ; when interstitial, they are for the most 

 part disposed parallely to the main fibres. Scattered between 

 the fibres also, are a small number of very slender (auxiliary) 

 tylostyli. The echinating spicules appear to be most abundant 

 on the superficial fibres ; but the majority of those which occur 

 in that situation are partly or completely invested by a sheath 

 of spongin and are evidently nothing more than the rudiments 

 of developing new fibres. According to Carter's description 

 the echinating spicules are of a different kind to those which 

 core the fibres — but this is not so ; for although the former are 

 perhaps, on the average, of smaller size than the latter, yet 

 between the two there is absolutely no difference of shape. 

 Accordingly, it would be incorrect to suppose that O. sub- 

 hispida bears any close relationship to such a sponge as 

 Clathria transita, form (d), (p. 233), in which the echinating 

 styli, although quite smooth, are quite distinct from the 

 principal spicules. 



T.oc. — Port Philip, Victoria {Carter; Dendy ; Austr. Mus. 

 Coll.). 



Ophi,ita.spo.\gl\ subhispida. Carter, var. viminalis, 



Lendenfeld. 



(Plate xxxvi., fig. i, and fig. 55.) 



1888. Thalassodendron viminalis, Lendenfeld, Cat. Sponges 

 Austr. Mus., 1888, p. 225. 



1902. Thalassodendron viminalis, Whitelegge, Rec. Austr. 

 Mus. iv., 5, 1902, p. 214. 



[1901. Not Thalassodendron viminalis, Whitelegge, Op. cit., 

 iv., 2, 1901, p. 87.] 



My acquaintance with this sponge is limited to a single dr}- 

 specimen (the one described by Whitelegge, and herein figured) 

 which in outward form approaches, and in internal characters 

 — except in regard to the size and, to some extent, to the 

 shape of its spicules — exactly resembles O. subhispida. 

 Indeed, the differences between the two are not so great that 

 they might not be due to individual variation ; but in order to 

 establish this point further material is required. 



The description which I have given of the skeleton pattern 

 of O. stibhispida is here again applicable without qualification, 

 and as regards the external features, Whitelegge's account 

 will suflfice. The latter author's description of the skeleton is 

 slightly misleading in one respect, inasmuch as it conveys the 



