BY E. F. KALLMANN. 505 



less uneven by irregular, longitudinally disposed ridges and 

 furrows, and by numerous acuminate conuli. The former in- 

 equalities are much more marked in dried and washed-out speci- 

 mens (PL XXX., fig. 2) than in the perfect sponge (PI. xxx., fig.l), 

 since in the case of the latter the depressions are largeh^ filled 

 up with fleshy tissue and covered over by dermal membrane. 

 In the washed-out condition of the sponge, numerous lesser 

 inequalities also are in evidence, causing the surface to present 

 a somewhat cellular or roughly pitted appearance, and giving 

 rise here and there- more especially in the case of thinner 

 lamellse to actual pei'forations : it is the depiessions producing 

 this appearance that are somewhat misleadingly referred to in 

 the original description as "pores." The conuli are conspicuous 

 in the well-preserved sponge, but may be entirely missing in the 

 case of beach-specimens owing to their fragility and the ease 

 with which they become broken off when dry; they are narrow 

 at the base and thread-like at the apex, are traversed axially by 

 a single skeletal fibre, and vary in length from 2 to 5 mm. 

 Oscula were not observed. 



The consistency of the sponge in alcohol is firm, fairly tough, 

 compressible, and resilient; and the colour is yellowish-brown. 

 Dry specimens vary considerably in their consistency and textural 

 appearance according to the extent to which the sarcode has 

 been removed. When thoroughly washed-out, the sponge is 

 tough and elastic, and its texture (as compared with that, say, 

 of an ordinary washing sponge) is loosely and coarsely fibrous : 

 the fibres that terminate at the surface run towai'ds it in an 

 obliquely ascending direction, and being free from one another 

 (i.e., unconnected by transverse fibres) for some distance from 

 their extremities, give to the surface a slightly shaggy appear- 

 ance (PI. xxx., fig.3). On the other hand, if dried without (or 

 with only partial) removal of the sarcode, the sponge (as in the 

 case of the type-specimen) is inelastic and rather brittle, and of 

 a texture that might be described roughly as pumiceous (Pl.xxx., 

 fig. 2). In this latter condition of the sponge, the interstices of 

 the skeleton are frequently tympanised by delic'ate parchment- 

 like membranes (erroneously referred to in the original descrip- 



