BRITISH SPONGIAD.E. Ill 



fasciculi attenuato-acuate, stouter than those of the 

 skeleton. Sarcode abundant, furnished sparingly 

 with minute stellate spicula. 



Colour. Light amber when dried. 



Habitat. Hastings, Mr. Tumanowicz ; Diamond Trawl- 

 ing Ground, Mr. H. Ridley ; Guernsey, Miss Le Lievre ; 

 Vazon Bay, Guernsey, Mr. Cooper. 



Examined. In the dry state. 



I received the first specimen of this sponge from Mr. 

 Tumanowicz, of Hastings, who informed me that it was 

 found on the beach in the neighbourhood. 



The specimen is unfortunately imperfect, having been 

 broken off, probably, about half an inch above its natural 

 base. In its present condition it is two and a half inches 

 long, and about a line in diameter. The principal stem is 

 nearly straight, and at half an inch from the lower end it 

 throws off a single curved branch rather less than an inch 

 in length, from which a second very small branch is given 

 off in like manner. The sponge is so similar in size and 

 proportion to a slender specimen of Dictyocylindrus stiqjosa, 

 dredged at the Orkney Islands by Mr. McAndrew, that at 

 first sight I concluded that it must belong to that species, 

 but on examining it with a lens of an inch focus the unu- 

 sually corrugated and wasted appearance of the surface 

 induced me to investigate it more closely. When viewed 

 beneath a power of one hundred linear by direct light, each 

 of the minute elevations is seen to be produced by the 

 projection of a dense radiating bundle of spicula more or 

 less enveloped in sarcode, thus presenting an appearance of 

 a series of wart-like elevations on the surface of the dried 

 specimen, but which would not, most probably, exist on the 

 surface of the sponge when in the living and fully expanded 

 condition. On examining a longitudinal section of the 

 stem of the sponge through the centre of the axis, in 

 water, as a transparent object, with a linear power of one 

 hundred and sixty, the fasciculi of spicula were seen based 

 on the cylindrical axis of the skeleton, and radiating thence 

 through the thick coat of sarcode, to the surface, and to 



