1622 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Genus 683. Aulosphcera,^ Haeckel, 1860, Monatsber. d. k. preuss. 

 Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin, p. 802. 



Definition. — A ulospliserida with triangular meshes in the network, the 

 tangential tubes of which form a simple lattice-sphere. Radial tubes arise at its nodal 

 points. 



The genus Aulosjihcera, the first observed form of all Aulosphserida, is also the 

 most common form of the whole family, the richest in distinct species, and widely 

 distributed over all oceans, in the tropical as well as in the temperate and Arctic zones. 



The twenty-one species here enumerated may be only a small part of the numerous 

 forms, which may be distinguished according to the different forms of the tubes. One 

 of the two Mediterranean species, which I first described in my Monograph, is cos- 

 mopolitan. The shell is in all species a simple regular lattice-sphere with triangular 

 meshes ; it difiers from the preceding Aularia in the development of radial tubes at 

 the nodal points of the lattice-work. 



Subgenus 1. Aulosphcerantha, Haeckel. 



Definition. — Radial tubes simple, smooth, without terminal teeth and without 

 lateral branches. 



1. Aulosphcera trigonopa, Haeckel. 



Aulosphoera trigonopa, Haeckel, 1862, Monogr. d. Radiol. , p. 359, Taf. x. fig. 4. 



Radial tubes of the spherical shell cylindro-conical, straight, smooth, of the same length as the 

 tangential tubes of the uetwork, which are also smooth, straight, cylindrical. 



Dimensions. — Diameter of the sphere I'O to 2'0 ; tangential tubes O'l to 0'2 long, 0'002 to 

 0-004 broad. 



Habitat. — Cosmopohtan ; Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, surface. 



2. Aulosphcera fiexuosa, n. sp. 



Eadial tubes slenderly conical, smooth, gradually tapering towards the distal end, more or less 

 irregularly curved, two to three times as long as the tangential tubes, which are cylindrical, 

 straight and smooth. 



Dimensions. — Diameter of the sphere 2-2 ; tangential tubes 015 long, 0-006 broad. 



Habitat. — North Atlantic, Fteroe Channel (Gulf Stream), John Murray, surface. 



■ ^i4os/)/ifEra = Tubular sphere ; aixo';, acfccha. 



