BY R. VON LENDENFELD, PH.D. 301 



them. I no not think that they can be of much importance to the 

 sponge in which they live ; they are certainly very similar to those 

 Oscillarians of which I assume that they are the cause of the 

 formation of the filaments in the Hircinidse. (1) The family of 

 the Hircinidai is a doubtful one, and before the true natiire of the 

 filaments is known, we will hardly be able to arrive at any satis- 

 factory conclusions concerning them. I do not place very much 

 reliance in the conclusions which might be inferred from Polejaefi"'s 

 (2) observations on the subject. I on the contrary, uphold my 

 hypothesis referred to above, as the most likely one. 



True filaments or anything like them, have not been observed 

 by me in theHalme specimens I examined, so that I would not 

 consider myself justified in placing this genus in the Family 

 Hircinidse, even if the oscillaria I found in Halme were identical 

 with the one, which according to my idea causes the formation of 

 filaments in the Hircinid^e. 



Geographical Distribution. 



Eastern Coast of Australia, Southern Coast of Australia, Port 

 Phillip (Von Lendenfeld) ; Port Jackson (Ramsay, Yon Lenden- 

 feld) ; Port Stephens (Ramsay). 



Bathymetrical Distribution. 



5-20 metres. (Poi-t Phillip and Port Jackson.) 

 The bulbous variety has been obtained from the three localities. 

 The digitate vai"iety has been obtained from Port Stephens only. 



60. SPECIES. 



HALME SIMPLEX, NOVA SPECIES. 



Plates XXYI., XXYH. 



As the structure of this species is, similar with that of the fore- 

 going it will be suflicient to give a short diagnosis of it here. 



(1) i?. V. Lendenfeld. Notes on the Fibres of certain Australian Hir- 

 cinidse. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of N.S.W., Vol IX., p. 641, 



(2) iV. PoUjaeff. Report on the Keratosa. The Zoology of the Voyage 

 of H.M.S. Challenger. Part XXXI. , p. 12. 



