BY E. F. KALLMANN. 467 



diameter); approximately of uniform diameter throughout their 

 length, or slightly pointed terminally. Oscula scattered irregu- 

 larly. Dermal membrane up to 80 or 90/* in thickness. Radial 

 fibres of greater length than the diameter of the axial fune; 

 rarely as much as 75/x in stoutness. Megascleres almost ex- 

 clusivel\' more or less sharp-pointed oxea, varying in maximal 

 size (in different specimens) from 300 x 9 to 3S0 x 11/' in the 

 branches, and from 440 x 15 to 510 x 17-5/x in the branches. 



Loc. — Port Jackson. 



Introdihctory. — The following description is based on four 

 specimens (all in the collection of the Australian Museum), two 

 of which are labelled Spirophora diffifafa in Lendenfeld's hand- 

 writing. Examination has also been made of a small piece of a 

 Bi'itish Museum specimen labelled with the same name, and, so 

 far as one can judge from its spiculation, — the fragment being 

 insufficient to provide all the requisite information as regards 

 other characters — this is of the same species. The specimens, 

 nevertheless, are considerably at variance with Lendenfeld's de- 

 scription of *S'. digitata, — according to which the digitate branches 

 are much compressed (4 mm. broad and 2 mm. thick), the surface 

 shows "ein feines Netz erhabener Leisten," and the megascleres 

 are styli. The statement regarding the megascleres one may 

 reasonably presume to be erroneous, inasmuch as st3di are other- 

 wise unrecorded as occurring in the genus except sporadically as 

 variants of oxea; but the other discrepancies are only explicable 

 on the assumption either that the specimens (of both Museums) 

 are mislabelled, or that the species is wrongly described in respect 

 of its external characters. The view here taken is that the lattei- 

 explanation is the true one.* As regards the evidence for the 

 identification of SpirophorfUa digitata with the present species, 

 the I'eader is referred to a previous paper (13, p. 429). 



* Certainly no implicit reliance can be placed un the description; fur it 

 is beyond question that in "Die Chalineen ties austialischen Gebietes," as 

 already has been proven to be the case in the "Catalogue of Sponges in 

 the Australian Museum," some (if not many) of the descriptions confound 

 two species (by ascribing to the one the external features of the other), 



