276 REVISION OF THE MONAXONID SPONGES, i., 



stylote raegascleres 2000 by 14 /x in size, and asters of two kinds 

 — spherasters 60 /x in diameter and tylasters 12 /x in diameter — 

 which are " particularly abundant in the skin " : rhe colour of 

 spirit-specimens is stated to be light flesh-colour in the cortex, 

 and dirty-yellow in the interior. In agreement with this de- 

 scription, the two specimens labelled as the types have a smooth 

 surface —which in one case is quite even, in the other, slightly 

 tuberculate — and although without filaments and without a 

 pinkish tint (their colour being pale creamy on the surface and 

 brownish-yellow in the interior), 3'et at any rate they are identical 

 in all other respects with specimens in the collection which 

 exhibit those features. But, contrary to the description, they 

 have fusiform, usually blunt-pointed (occasionally strongyla-like) 

 megascleres, the largest of which are 27 /x in stoutness and less 

 than 1700 /x in length; the spherasters are (comparatively) scarce 

 in the cortex and attain a diameter of 60 /x or more; the tylasters 

 are usually not less than 15/x(and at most are 20/x) in diameter; 

 and oxyasters are present. The specimens are, in fact, forms of 

 D. ingalli var. IcRvis; and a fragment labelled Tethya injiata, from 

 the British Museum, is another example of the same. As I do 

 not think that any reliance can be placed upon the spicule- 

 measurements given by Lendenfeld, or even upon the form which 

 he ascribes to the megascleres, I would, tlierefore, have but slight 

 hesitation in declaring Tethya infiata to be synonymous with 

 Tethya hevis, were it not for the fact of the possession by these 

 specimens of oxyasters, and of the comparative non-abundance of 

 their spherasters. I might mention, however, that, in the larger 

 of the two "type-specimens," the oxyasters are rather few in 

 number, and in places are absent (or almost so) throughout con. 

 siderable tracts; while, at the same time, they are rarely more 

 than 30 fi in diameter, and usually are not ver\^ markedly different 

 from the largest tylasters; and thus it is conceivable, in the case 

 of such a specimen, that these spicules could, through hasty 

 observation, be overlooked. Also I might mention that, in some 

 specimens of Tethya ht'vis, the spherasters are abundant in the 

 outermost layer of the cortex; and possibly it is only to the outer- 

 most laver of the cortex that Lendenfeld refers in speaking of 



