BRITISH SPONGIAD^E. M5 



ancliorate, very minute, dispersed ; and biharaate, 

 simple and contort, very minute, dispersed or loosely 

 congregated in groups. 



Colour. Light gray, or light brown when dry. 

 Habitat Shetland, Mr. C. W. Peach. 

 Examined. In the dried state. 



I received three specimens of this interesting species from 

 my friend Mr. C. W. Peach ; they were dredged at Shetland, 

 in 1864, by Mr. J. G. Jeffreys. These specimens are irre- 

 gularly massive, and are nearly of the same size, about three 

 inches at the greatest length; neither of them exhibit evi- 

 dences of a basal attachment, and, it is probable, that they 

 were not attached to any substance at the time they were 

 brought up by the dredge. 



The dermal membranes have been very nearly destroyed, 

 but in the small patches remaining the characteristic spicula 

 are in situ, and in a good state of preservation. The oscula 

 are simple, and rather small, and they do not appear to 

 have been numerous. The pores were well preserved in an 

 open state in some parts of the dermal membrane, and 

 several were clustered together in one of the porous spaces 

 of that organ. The reticulated skeleton is strongly and 

 compactly formed, and the network consists of two or three 

 spicula, or sometimes of a greater number ; the areas are 

 unequal in form, and rather indistinct in some parts. The 

 most striking characters in this species, are those inherent 

 in the dermal and interstitial membranes. In the latter, 

 the sub-clavated cylindrical tension spicula are very nume- 

 rous, and are frequently loosely congregated in fasciculi in 

 greater numbers than can be counted, while others are irre- 

 gularly dispei-sed around them. The same mode of dis- 

 position prevails with the forcepiform spicula, and it must 

 be remarked that the bases and the apices of the spicula 

 forming a fasciculus are always coincident. I have never 

 met with this form of spicula before ; the nearest approxi- 

 mation is that of the inequi-furcato-triradiate, Figure 237, 

 Plate X, Vol. I of this work ; but in this case, there is a 



