BY E. F. KALLMANN. 543 



might be thought to be related to Ceratopsis. I have re-ex- 

 amined this species, and find that the oxea are merely variants 

 of the smaller styli (differing from them neither in size nor in 

 situation), and that the latter are differentiated into two kinds, 

 one of which is distinguished by having the distal moiety vesti- 

 gially spined, and by being very slighth' stouter and of more 

 conical shape than tiie other. The species belongs, in fact, to 

 the Myxillinje, and requires a new genus for its reception, for 

 which I propose the name Echinaxia. The sponge is thinly 

 lamellar, flabelliform; and the skeleton consists (i.) of a con- 

 densed axial region formed mainh' of an irregular reticulation 

 of the smaller smooth styli (which vary from 90 to 150// in 

 length and up to 5/x in stoutness) and partly of fairly numerous, 

 longitudinally directed, singly-occurring, long slender styli 

 (varying in size from less than 200 by 2/li to upwards of 700 by 

 12/x), and (ii.) of short, fairly stout, echinated fibres radiating 

 from the axial region towards the surface, composed both of 

 smooth and spined short styli, and terminating in a compact 

 bundle or tuft of long stout styli (apparently similar to the 

 longer of those occurring in the axial region) the extremities of 

 which project somewhat beyond the surface. I am inclined to 

 think that the genus Echinaxia should be so defined as to include 

 also the two species described by Thiele(38) as Haspailia folium 

 and Raspailia hirsida. 



DRAfJMAXiA, gen.nov. 



Definition. — Axinellidfe of lamellar hal)it, typically Habellate 

 or cup-shaped. Skeleton composed of dense spicule-axes x'amify- 

 ing in the midplane of the lamina, and of plumose spicule-columns 

 radiating therefrom, between which interconnection by means of 

 transverse fibres is rare. Megascleres: styli only; either of a 

 single sort, or more or less completely differentiated into two 

 sorts, — one (of shorter length) forming the fibres, the other 

 occurring interstitially. Microscleres : trichodragmata accom- 

 panied or not by singly scattered trichites. 



Type, D. variabilis Whitelegge. 



The species for which I propose the genus was referred by its 



