I GO THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Crateromorpha nieyeri, and was first described by Carter.' The approximately round 

 stalk, which was as long and as thick as one's finger, and connected by a trumpet-like 

 expansion with the " cup- or goblet-shaped body," was found by Carter to be perforated 

 1iy a lai-go number (twelve) of longitudinal canals " which open into the vents of the 

 bottom of the cu}) wliere the stem joins the latter." At the lower end the stalk was 

 expanded and adapted for fixing the sponge to the sandy bottom of the sea. The 

 margin at the brim of the cup was extremely thin, but the wall became thicker towards 

 the base. The principal forms of spicules which Carter found in the goblet-shaped 

 body were " (1) straight, fusiform spicules terminally swollen and spinose, also more or 

 less swollen and smooth in the centre, where the central canal has a hexradiate cross, 

 opposite to the ends of which two or four tubercles may occur. These spicules form 

 bundles crossing one another at right angles, or approximately so, and thus support the 

 dermal network. (2) Nail-like or cruciate sj^icules, in which the arms are smooth, straight 

 and pointed, the shaft a little longer than the rest, also occur somewhat sparsely. (3) 

 Minute smooth hexradiate spicules, in which each arm of the cross, just after leaving the 

 centre, divides into two long divergent spines, are present in myriads. (4) In the pore- 

 bearing area cruciate spicules occur, in which the arms, arising at right angles from the 

 centre, are more or less expanded at the ends and spinose throughout. (5) The stem 

 contains, in addition to the rod-like spicules forming a woolly mass, large, smooth, thick 

 spicules, four-twelfths of an inch in length, acerate and swollen at both ends. These 

 occur distributed longitudinally over the surface of the stem." 



Gray"^ repeats Carter's description in somewhat different language, and establishes 

 on the strength of this specimen the family Crateromorphidse with the following 

 characteristic : — " Sponge cup-shaped, attached by an elongated pedicel formed of 

 numerous short spicules. Body of sponge covered externally with hexradiate spicules, 

 the outer ray of which is aborted, placed in longitudinal and transverse lines, making a 

 square mesh ; hollow with large oscules which diminish in size as they reach the margin 

 of the cup. Stem formed of numerous cylindrical tubes situated in a spiculous felt, 

 ending in a Inuich of filaments sunk in the mud." 



In 1876, Marshall" gave the following diagnosis of the genus: — " Polyzoic, with 

 pseudogaster (?) of beaker form, outer side of the beaker-like cup perforated by cylindrical 

 .spaces (the stomachic cavities 1), others of the same kind running longitudinally to spaces 

 in the base of the cup. In the internal skeleton the hexradiate forms of spicules dis- 

 appear, and uniaxial forms occur. Body cavities covered by peculiar small hexradiate 

 spicules with bifurcated rays (?). Dermal skeleton of five-rayed spicules. No proper 

 root-tuft. Kosettes with numerous secondary knobbed rays." 



Crateromorpha meyeri is regarded by him as a pollakid HexactinelHd which has 



' Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. x. p. 112. - Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. x. pp. 1.36-137. 



' Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., Bd. xxvii. p. 126. 



