234 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Preliminary Eeport only three sponges had been described under the name Lati'unculia 

 viz. : — Latrunculia cratera, Bocage {loc. cit. supra) ; Latrunculia corticata. Carter ^ and 

 Latrunculia 'purpurea, Carter.^ Both of Mr. Carter's species have, however, oxeote 

 in place of stylote megasclera ; in this they agree with one of the Challenger sjjecies and 

 all are thereby very sharply marked off from the original type and from three new species 

 obtained by the Challenger ; indeed it seems doubtful whether these forms with oxeote 

 megasclera ought to be included in the same genus with the species that have stylote 

 spicules ; this question we must leave open for the present, but for the sake of 

 convenience we shall consider those forms with oxeote spicules as doubtfully belonging 

 to the genus Latrunculia. 



Schmidt has described two sponges under the generic name Sceptrella; the first 

 of these, viz., Sceptrella regalis^^ is of rather doubtful systematic position, though 

 almost certainly referable to the genus Latrunculia. Sceptrella triloba* the second- 

 species, is undoubtedly a Latrunculia {Latrunculia triloba), as will readily be seen 

 from Schmidt's brief description, which we c[uote in full : — " Bildet Krusten, am 

 Rande mit rohrenformigen Fortsatzen, welche theils eine wirkliche Osculum-Oeffnung 

 haben, theils bloss durch microscopische Poren den Wasserabfluss gestatten. Die 

 st.-sp. Nadeln in der Mitte etwas dicker. Zwischen diesen groberen feinere. Die 

 characterischen Schachfigurenformigen Kieselkorper zeigen die grosste Verwandtschaft 

 mit denen der Sceptr. regalis von Florida, ihre vier Wirtel bestehen aber nur aus 

 drei Strahlen, welche sich ein- bis zweimal dichotomisch gabeln. Diese Korper bilden, 

 indem ihre Axen senkrecht zur Oberfliiche stehen, ein dichtes Pilaster." 



Podospongia lovenii, Bocage,'' seems to be nearly allied to the genus Latrunculia, 

 but, without entering into the question of spiculation, the presence of a very distinct 

 stalk is sufficient to separate it generically. 



Latrunculia apicalis, Ridley and Dendy (PI. XLIV. fig. 4 ; PI. XLV. figs. 9-9c). 



1886. Latrunculia ajncalis, Kidley and Dendy, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, vol. xviii. 



p. 492. 



Sponge (PI. XLIV. fig. 4) massive, sessile, with broad base attached to foreign objects, 

 and veiy strongly convex upper surface beset with more or less numerous small, mammi- 

 form processes. The largest specimen (the one from Kerguelen) measures 114 mm. in 

 hmgth by 75 mm. in breadth and 56 mm. in thickness in the middle, the base is oval 

 and the upper surface very strongly convex and beset with an enormous number of small 



' Ann. and Mag. Nat Hist., .ser. 5, vol. iii. p. 298, pi. xxvii. figs. 3-4. 



- Op. cil., ser. 5, vol. vii. p. 380, pi. xviii. fij,'. 5. 



•' Spong. Atlant. Gebiet., p. 58, pi. v. fig. 24. The systematic position of this sponge is discussed in our Intioduttion. 



* Jahresb. d. Comm. wiss. Unters. deutsch. Meere, Jahrg, ii., iii., p. 119, pi. i. fig?. 17, 18. 



'• Jom. Acad, real Sci. Lisboa, vol. ii. p. 159, pi. x. fig. 1. 



