82 PORIFERA. I. 



he refers here, on account, as it would seem, of his not having seen the spicules, I have been able 

 with certainty to decide that it is Oceaiiapia robusta. 



Remarks. In this species we find the so-called « cellules spheruleuses > to be especially conspicuous, 

 partly because they occur in large numbers, and partly on account of their being rather large. They 

 are especially found in the interior body, and on the membrane that lines the inmost part of the 

 canals (PI. XV, fig. 4). They have an average size of o-oai™™. Their form is most frequently roundish, 

 but they are not rarely produced at one end so as to become pyriform, or at both ends, being then 

 more or less fusiform. They are filled with clear, somewhat refringent granules, and are (in spirit) of 

 a light yellow colour. Most frequently they are very conspicuous, and have therefore also been ob- 

 served by Bowerbank, who calls them «gemmules», and mentions them I.e. II, 349 and more fully 

 in 1874, 1. c. Ill, 160 where he mentions that they are filled with granules, and gives their size to 



^— inch = o-oi/™'". 

 1500 ' 



Locality: Station i, 62° 30' Lat. N., 8° 21' Long. W., depth 132 fathoms (fragments and fistulse 

 of a very large specimen) ; station 10, 64" 24' Lat. N., 28° 50' Long. W., depth 788 fathoms (fragments of 

 a smaller specimen); station 78, 60° 37' Lat. N., 27° 52' Long. W., depth 799 fathoms, and station S3, 

 62^ 25' Lat. N., 28" 30' Long. W., depth 912 fathoms (a few torn off fistulae). 



Geogr. distr. Originally this species was only known from the Shetland Islands from a depth 

 of 70 — 90 fathoms. Later it has been taken in Sognefjord on the western coast of Norway, depth 650 

 fathoms (The Norwegian North-Atlantic Expedition); the fact is that I have been able, as I have 

 had Armauer Hansen's original specimen, with certainty to refer to the present species the Renicra 

 tiibnlosa mentioned by him I.e. Armauer Hansen perceives the resemblance himself, but says that 

 his species has no sigmata; these however, he must have failed to see, as they are found copiously in 

 his specimen. Further it has been taken at East-Greenland, depth 180 fathoms (Fristedt). — Including 

 the localities in which the species has been taken by the Ingolf, it has now been found across the 

 Atlantic, as we have the places Sognefjord, the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, south and west of 

 Iceland, and at East-Greenland. The species, however, reaches far more to the southward having been 

 taken at the Azores, depth ca. 70 fathoms [Gelh'odes cavicornis Topsent I.e.). 



Ridlev and Dendy in Challenger Report mention it from Bermuda or Bahia (the locality 

 is uncertain), but, as before said, there is some doubt of the identity of the species. 



Subfam. 2. Desmacellinae. 

 Biemma Gray. 



The form varying^ irregular., but often compressed^ or more or less leaf-shaped. The skeleton 

 consists of a more or less irregular netzuork of spictiles, or of fibres that are most frequently not very 

 marked, and reach no great length. Spongin {most frequently or alivays) wanting. Spicula: Mcga- 

 sclera monactinal., tylostyli or subtylostyli ; microsclera sigmata, or sigmata and toxa. 



I. B. rosea Frstdt. 

 PI. VI, Figs. 1—2, PI. XV, Fig. 5 a— d, Figs. 6—9. 

 1887. Desmacella rosea Fristedt, Vega Exp. vetensk. lakttag. IV, 439, PI. 24, figs. 32—35, PI. 28, fig. 13. 



