REPORT ON THE MONAXONIDA. 197 



Family I. Suberitid^e. 

 No microsclera present. 



Genus Suherites, Nardo (Pis. XXV., XLL, XLIIL, XLV.). 



1833. Suierite.1, Nardo, Isis, p. 523. 



1864. Hymeniaddon, pars, Bowerbank, Mon. Brit. Spong., vol. i. p. 191. 



Form various, massive to stipitate. Surface devoid of mammiform projections. 

 Skeleton radiately arranged, nearly always with a dermal crust of smaller^ spicules 

 arranged vertically to the surface. Spicules all monactinal, nearly always tylostylote. 



This genus appears to be the most primitive of the family, giving rise on the one 

 hand to mammae-bearing forms such as Polymastia, &c., and on the other to symmetrically 

 radiate forms like Trichostenima. 



The most interesting of the new species obtained by the Challenger are several 

 stipitate forms which in varying degrees simulate the genus Stylocordyla in external 

 appearance {e.g., Suherites ramulosus, nobis), always differing, however, from that genus 

 in the presence of monactinal in place of diactinal megasclera. 



Suherites carnosus, Johnston, sp. 



1842. Halichondria carnosa, Johnston, Britisli Sponges, p. 146, pi. xiii. figs. 7-8. 



1866. Hymeniaddon carnosa, Bowerbank, Mon. Brit. Spong., vol. ii. p. 203; vol. iii. pi. ,\xxvi. 



figs. .5-9. 

 1884. Suherites carnosus, Ridley, Zool. Coll. H.M.S. "Alert," Brit. Mus., 1884, p. 465. 



The occurrence of this sponge at or near Port Jackson has already been noted by 

 Ridley {loc. cit.) ; it appears to be a very widelj" distributed species, as will be seen from 

 the list of localities in which it has been found, as given below. The Challenger obtained 

 it off the Azores and off Port Jackson, and a variety of the same species from Fernando 

 Noronha. 



ioca^i^/ei'.— Station 75, July 2, 1873 ; lat. 38° 38' 0" N., long. 28' 28' 30" W.; off 

 the Azores ; depth, 450 fathoms ; bottom, volcanic mud. One specimen. 



Off Port Jackson ; depth, 6 to 1 5 fathoms. One specimen. 



Off Fernando Noronha, September 1, 1873. One specimen of a slight variety, in 

 which the arrangement of the skeleton fascicles at the surface of the sponge is more 

 diffuse than usual. The spicules, also, are larger than usual, measuring in the deeper parts 

 of the sponge about 0"56 by 0"008 mm., and the head varies much in size and is often 

 very irregular in shape ; occasionally it may even be absent. 



Hahitat. — British Isles (Johnston, Bowerbank, &c.) ; Azores (Challenger) ; Fernando 

 Noronha (Challenger); Kerguelen Island (Carter); Vancouver's Island (?) (Carter) ; Port 

 Jackson (" Alert," Challenger). 



