NOTES TO THE AUSTRALIAN SPONGES RECENTLY 

 DESCRIBED BY CARTER. (1) 



By R. von Lendenfeld. Ph.D. 



As I am just now engaged in writing a Monograph of the 

 Australian Sponges, I was particularly glad to receive the publica- 

 tions on the subject by Carter through the courtesy of the author. 



There are in the part concerning the Ceraospongiae and Myxo- 

 spongia, no figures and the diagnoses are so short that it is, in a 

 great number of cases, impossible for me to identify them with 

 the specimens in my collection or to ascertain those characteristics 

 which I consider as most important. 



There are some, however, which in consequence of some 

 accessory peculiarity or other I have been able to recognize. My 

 collection of several thousand specimens of Australian Sponges is 

 by far the finest as yet brought together from this locality, 

 and I think that not only Carter but also all other scientists, who 

 are working the Sponges will be interested in the I'esult of a com- 

 parison between Carter's diagnosis and the specimens in my 

 collection. 



Halisarca austi'aliensis (2) is not a Sponge at all, but the crusts 

 described by Carter under the above name are the ova of Boltenias, 

 suiTounded by their Follicula. I myself believed that the slimy 

 coatings in question were perhaps Sponges, and I examined them 

 accordingly. The result of this examination are laid down in a 

 pa]:)er published by me last year. (3) 



(1) H. J. Carter. Description of Sponges from the neighbourhood of 

 Port Phillip Heads, South Australia. Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History, Ser. 5, Vol. XV., p. 196. 



(2) H. J. Carter. L.c, p. 197. 



(3) R. von Lendenfeld. On the slimy coatings of certain Boltenias in 

 Port Jackson. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W., Vol. IX., 

 p. 495. 



