300 Royal Society : — 



according to the necessities arising from the mode of the construction 

 of the skeleton. 



2nd. The connecting spicula are not necessarily a part of the 

 skeleton; they are a subsidiary portion of it under special circum- 

 stances, in a few genera only ; as in Geodia, Pachymatisma, and other 

 sponges which have a thick crustaceous surface, which the spicula 

 serve to support and retain in due connexion with the mass of the 

 animal beneath. The normal form of these spicula is very different 

 from that of the general mass of those of the skeleton, and they are 

 much more complex and varied in their structure. They usually have 

 a long, stout, cylindrical or attenuating shaft terminating either 

 acutely or hemispherically at the base, while the apex is divided into 

 three equi-angular radii, which assume in different species a con- 

 siderable amount of variety as regards form and direction. The tri- 

 radiate apices are usually cemented firmly to the inner surface of the 

 crustular coat of the sponge ; while the stout and elongated shaft is 

 intermingled with keratode, and firmly cemented by it to the general 

 mass of the skeleton. 



3rd. The defensive spicula are divisible into two classes : those 

 of the exterior, and those of the interior of the sponge. They are 

 neither of them necessarily present in every species, nor are they 

 confined to particular genera, but occur occasionally, and in certain 

 species of various genera apparently as the necessities of the animal 

 may render their presence requisite. Their ofiice is evidently to 

 defend the sponge';from the attacks of predaceous animals. They 

 are projected for about half or two-thirds of their length at various 

 angles from the surface of the sponge, or they are based on the 

 fibre of the skeleton, and are projected at about right angles into its 

 interstitial cavities. 



4th. The spicula of the membranes are of two distinct classes. 

 The ofiice of the first of these is to strengthen and support those 

 delicate tissues, and to communicate to them a certain amount of 

 tension. Their forms are few in number, and their structure com- 

 paratively simple. The office of the second class is that of assisting 

 in the retention of the sarcode on the interstitial and other struc- 

 tures. They are usually minute in size, and often very complicated 

 in form. 



5th. Spicula of the sarcode. The numerous and beautiful tribe of 

 stellate spicula appear to be devoted to connect and give substance to 

 the gelatinoid sarcode which so abundantly covers the whole of the 

 interior membranous structures of the sponges in which they occur. 

 They are often exceedingly minute, and are occasionally remarkably 

 complex and beautiful in structure, and we frequently find more 

 than one form imbedded in the sarcode of the same sponge. 



6th. The spicula appropriated to the gemmules of sponges occur in 

 various modes of disposition. First, they are imbedded irregularly in 

 an external envelope of the gemmule, or on the surface of the 

 gemmule itself at right angles to lines radiating from its centre. 

 Secondly, they are arranged symmetrically in the crust of the 

 gemmule parallel to lines radiating from its centre. Thirdly, they 



