REPORT ON THE HEXACTINELLIDA. 171 



2. Aulochone lilium. n. sp. (PI. LXVIII. figs. 3-7). 



Near the Meangis Islands, north-east of Celebes (Station 214, lat. 4° 33' N., long. 

 127° 6'E.), from a depth of 500 fathoms and a blue mud ground, the dredge brought up 

 a comparatively well preserved long-stalked type of Aulochone, which measured 23 cm. in 

 total length. The rounded pillar-like portion of the body measured 7 cm. in transverse 

 diameter and 4 cm. in height, while the tubular stalk measured 6 mm. in thickness and 

 19 cm. in height. The stalk forms a funnel-shaped expansion with laterally projecting 

 radial folds before passing into the body proper, and the lumen of this stalk opens 

 into the funnel-shaped gastral cavity within the loose body. The body, which has been 

 somewhat compressed both in capture and preservation, exhibits on its lower side a 

 number of radially projecting folds, which radiate out from four cruciately disposed 

 principal ridges. Between these radial septa there are pouch-like depressions, which are 

 closed externally by means of a sharp-edged margin which projects perpendicularly 

 downwards, and is directly continuous with terminal expansions of the radial folds 

 (PI. LXVIII. fig. 3). The pouch-like depressions of the lower surface thus appear to be 

 rounded ofi" externally. 



The funnel-shaped excavation on the superior surface is bordered by pad-like folds of 

 the body -wall, and is not distinctly limited superiorly or externally. In fact, the gastral 

 wall is directly continued by a rounded superior marginal pad into the somewhat longi- 

 tudinally folded outer surface of the body. The latter represents, indeed, the everted 

 gastral surface, and is limited towards the inferior dermal surface only at the inferior 

 external sharp-edged margin of the body generally (PI. LXVIII. fig. 3). It is thus 

 evident that the whole architecture of this sponge agrees with that of Aulochone 

 cylindrica, and this is ecjually true of the internal structure, and especially in regard 

 to the disposition of the folded chamber layer. The convexity of all the chambers 

 within the body is directed towards the cavities, which are pushed in from the lower 

 surface, and enveloped in the dermal membrane; in the stalk, on the other hand, the 

 convexity is towards the external dermal surface. The openings of the chambers 

 within the body are directed towards the external and superior gastral wall, while in the 

 stalk they are turned towards the central lumen of the tube. 



The principal spicules of the parenchymal skeleton are long, thin, or slightly thickened 

 diacts, with rough, club-shaped, or simply rounded ends. There is rarely any annular 

 thickening, or development of four cruciate, or two opposite bosses. The rays are for the 

 most part uniformly cylindrical, or slightly thickened in a spindle-like manner, and are 

 perfectly smooth except at their roughened ends. They are either quite straight or gently 

 curved. The abundant parenchymal oxyhexasters correspond exactly in form and size 

 to the oxyhexasters of Aulochone cylindrica; they differ, however, markedly in this, that 

 the long terminals are completely covered with small spines, being in fact very rough 



