432 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S, CHALLENGER. 



Kerguelen Island and 5° south of it there was an abundant occurrence of the 

 large Rossella antarctica, while still further southwards, at Station 156, another 

 Hexactinellid was found. At Station 157 (lat. 53° 55' S., long. 108° 35' E.) two 

 forms were found, and 24° further east (Station 160) another, and again a fourth 

 south-west of Melbourne. Neither on the south-east coast of Australia, nor on the 

 voyage from Sydney to New Zealand, was there any sponge booty captured ; but to the 

 east of the North Island of New Zealand some Hexactinellid spicules at least were 

 obtained, and near the Kermadec Islands as many as six different species. Near the 

 Raoul Island was the habitat of the delicate Aulochone cyliiidrica, and off the Fiji 

 Islands the beautiful Tiegeria was trawled. After a break some Hyalonema fragments 

 were again obtained to the south-east of the Torres Strait. The richest haul of 

 Hexactinellida was obtained in the neighbourhood of the Little Ki Island, where no 

 fewer than eighteen different species were found, some of them of large size and repre- 

 sented by several specimens ; near the Banda Islands also six species w^ere obtained, but 

 after that it was not till the Philippines — long known as rich Hexactinellid localities — 

 were reached that several forms rewarded the search. Of the seven different stations in 

 the Philippine region, the locality between the islands of Zebu and Bohol, famous as 

 the seat of the almost mercantile capture of Eiqytectella aspergilhim, yielded not only 

 numerous specimens of Euplectella aspergillum, but several of the well-known typically 

 Philippine species, such as Pohjloplms philippinensis, Crateromorpha meyeri, and 

 Semperella schultzei, while at the remaining six stations, only one, or at most two species 

 were obtained. On the way from New Guinea to Japan no Hexactinellids were obtained, 

 l)ut in Japanese waters, in the Sagami Bay so industriously explored by Dr. Doderlein, 

 one species of Hyalonema at least was found in great abundance. A Dictyonal form was 

 also found to the south of the bay. Eight degrees east of Yokohama, at considerable 

 depths, four remarkable forms were found, and again as many degrees further east some 

 closely allied or identical species. On the long voyage from the Sandwdch Islands to 

 the equator no traces of Hexactinellids were discovered. On this side of the equator, 

 however, at some adjacent localities near the line, as many as four different species of 

 Hyalonema were trawled. After that two species were found some degrees south of 

 Tahiti, and 8° to 10° to the south-east first two and then three forms. Again in the 

 south-east portion of the Atlantic (Station 293) a fragment of a Dictyonal sponge was 

 discovered ; while near the island Juan Fernandez a Hyalonema, and at two stations in 

 the Magellan Strait, first one and then two species were captured. On the return 

 voyage through the Atlantic, the southern portion yielded no Hexactinellids, until 

 several degrees to the east of Monte Video, at three distinct stations, the search was 

 again successful. After that to the west of Tristan da Cunha and near Ascension Island 

 single species were obtained, and lastly 3° north of the equator, at considerable depths, 

 a single form belonging to the remarkable genus Malacosaccus was procured. 



