REPORT ON THE MONAXONIDA, 17 



Locality. — Station 307, January 4, 1876 ; lat. 49° 24' 30" S., long. 74° 23' 30" W. ; off 

 the south-west coast of Patagonia; depth, 140 fathoms; bottom, blue mud. One specimen. 



Off the south-west coast of Patagonia (Station uncertain). Two or three specimens. 



Habitat. — Adriatic Sea (Schmidt); Port Darwin, Australia (Pddley, "Alert"); 

 Torres Strait (Ridley, " Alert ") ; off the south-west coast of Patagonia (Challenger). 



Reniera suhglohosa, Eidley and Dendy (PL I. figs. 3, 3a ; PI. II. fig. 6). 



1886. Reniera suhglohosa, Ridley and Dendy, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. xviii. 



p. 327. 



Sponge (PI. I. fig. 3) sessile, subglobular, hollow, thick-walled, with a wide, circular, 

 cloacal opening at the summit. Height 31 mm. ; diameter about 25 mm. ; diameter 

 of cloacal opening 12 mm. ; thickness of wall 8 mm. Colour in spirit yellowish -grey. 

 Texture firm but very brittle ; cavernous, traversed by canals which end beneath the 

 dermal membrane on the outside of the hollow cup, their terminations being here 

 irregularly dispersed. On the inside of the cup (PL I. fig. 3a) the openings of the 

 canals (? oscula) are arranged in regular series, separated from one another by 

 ridges as in the figure ; these ridges, or strands of tissue, form a rect- 

 angular lattice-work. Surface even, and probably smooth in the living sjjonge. 

 Dermal membrane delicate, transparent ; largely rubbed off ; where it still remains it 

 extends right over the openings of the wide canals on the outer surface of the sponge ; 

 sometimes also it appears to extend over the inner openings ; the oscula were very likely 

 confined to the inside of the cup as in other flabeUate and infundiljuliform sponges. 

 Pores found in the dermal membrane on the outside of the cup in the form of numerous, 

 irregularly scattered, small, rounded openings variable in si^e, probably confined to the 

 outside of the cup. 



Skeleton. — The main skeleton consists of a confused but subrectangular reticulation 

 composed of very loose spiculo-fibre, two or three spicules in width. There is also a 

 definite imispicular dermal reticulation supporting the dermal membrane. 



Spicules. — Smooth, slightly curved, subhastately and sharply-pointed oxea (PI. II, 

 fig. 6), measuring about 0*3 by 0*013 mm. 



This species may be recognised by its fine, sul^giobular, hoUow form ; by the striking 

 serial arrangement of the openings on the inner surface, and by its firm though brittle 

 consistence. These characters, combined with the size of the spicules, are sufficient to 

 distinguish it from all previously known species. Of possibly related species, Reniera 

 compacta, Schmidt,-^ differs from Reniera subglobosa in its slender and longer spicules, 

 and from Reniera dura in its bast-like cortex and spicules, which are twice as broad as 

 here ; they resemble it in their density of structure, but are possibly referable to Petrosia. 



1 Spong. Adriat. Meer., Supp. i. p. 38. 

 (zooL. CHALL. EXP. — PART Lix. — 1887.) Nnn 3 



