280 records of the australian museum. 



Family HOMORRHAPHID^ 



Sub-family RENIERIN^. 

 Ueniera collectrix, Lendenfeld. 



The type (No. 477) has been compared with a fragment from 

 the British Museum ; it is massive, with an irregular upper surface 

 and has several points of attachment at the base. The length is 

 160 mm., the breadth 100 mm., and the height is about 60 mm. 

 The texture is hard and tough. The colour externally is a dirty 

 white, and the cut surface is marked by a series of irregular lines 

 of a dark brown or black in shade, which indicate the course of 

 the foreign bodies. The latter consist of fragments of various 

 species of Crisea, together with a few sand grains and bits of 

 zoophytes. The stems of Crisea are very abundant throughout 

 the sponge, and perfect specimens are attached to the outer 

 surface. In longitudinal section it exhibits large areas of sarcode, 

 with scattered foreign bodies, often wide apart. In the clear 

 spaces a few proper oxeote spicules are scattered here and there, 

 but rarely exhibit " strings of single spicules, which are attached 

 to each other by their ends ;" in some parts near the surface they 

 occur in irregular tracks about 0'7 wide, and are disposed at all 

 angles to each other. The spicules are described as " oxea and 

 styli, the former more numerous than the latter ;" but the various 

 sections failed to yield any styli that I could regard as proper to 

 the sponge. The dermis, besides containing abundant oxea similar 

 to those in the ground substance, exhibits scattered sphterasters, 

 triradiates, tylota, and styli, the latter of very variable dimensions 

 and probably of foreign origin. 



A fragment of the sponge was boiled in nitric acid; the residue 

 when examined did not reveal any styli that might be safely 

 regarded as belonging to it. The spicules are oxea 0"1 to 0"13 

 mm. long, and 0"005 mm. in thickness. 



Reniera australis, Lendenfeld. 

 Reniera australis, Whitelegge, Mem. Aust. Mus., iii., 2, p. 324. 

 Spicules, oxea 0'12 by 004 mm. 



Reniera megarrhaphea, Lendenfeld. 

 The type of this species (No. 385) now measures 60 mm. in 

 height, 40 mm. in breadth, and 2.5 mm. in thickness ; originally 

 it was probably much larger ; in its present condition it exhibits 

 three cut surfaces. The texture internally is firm, open, and 

 breadlike. The dermis (to the unaided eye) is smooth, porous, 

 and finely reticulated, but rather harsh to the touch. 



The primary fibres are 2 mm. in diameter, and about the 

 same or less apart. The secondaries vary greatly ; when in the 

 form of distinct fibres they are usually about 05 in diameter. 



