64 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSKUM 



most of which are undetermined; and an equal number, dredged, 

 trawled, or collected on the coast by the writer, and others, during 

 the past fifteen yeai's. The exhibition cases contain over six 

 hundred specimens, representing about four hundred species, of 

 which number two hundred and ninety-five belong to the type 

 collection as named and described in the " Catalogue of Sponges 

 in the Australian Museum,'"' by Dr. R. von Lendenfeld. Since 

 his departure in 1885, the Trustees have received numerous 

 donations of sponges from various parts of Australia. 



With a view to subsequent remarks, I deem it advisable to 

 give a short account of this type collection 



During 1884-5, Dr. Lendenfeld was employed by the Trustees 

 to write a Descriptive Catalogue of the Sponges in the Australian 

 Museum, and a considerable portion of the work was accomplished 

 in ray presence, as the author of the Catalogue and the present 

 writer occupied the same study. When the work of determination 

 was concluded— just previous to his departure for Europe — Dr. 

 Lendenfeld carefully labelled and numbered all the specimens ; 

 the dry examples had ihe labels tied on, and those in spirit had a 

 black-lead label and a number placed on each bottle. From the 

 time of his departure to the publication of the Catalogue, the 

 collection remained undisturbed, and was under my care. Shortly 

 after the book was issued, it was found that the published names 

 did not agree with the manuscript names accompanying the 

 sponges. The author, at the request of the Trustees, subsequently 

 forwarded a numbered list with the amended nomenclature. It 

 devolved upon the writer to add the correct names as they appeared 

 in the Catalogue, and this was accomplished without disturbing 

 the original labels or numbers. 



In 1894, the collection was placed on exhibit; the dry examples 

 were mounted on black wooden stands, the original label pasted 

 underneath, and the stand numbered in accordance with the list. 

 The specimens in spirits were in most cases mounted in the original 

 bottles, and their contents left intact. In the process of mounting 

 I took especial care to avoid any error or mixing of the labels. 

 The numbers in tlie manuscript list and the specimen numbers 

 were found to correspond in all cases, excepting some few which 

 were marked with a query by the author. 



In identifying sundry collections by means of the Catalogue and 

 the Lendenfeldian types, I have found numerous discrepancies 

 between the descriptions and the types ; and in working out the 

 Fisheries' donation I have encountered so many similar disagree- 

 ments l)etween the specimen and the description, that I regard 

 the Catalogue as unreliable for the determination of species. A 

 few of the more striking errors noted, may now be mentioned : — 



13 Aust. Mus. Cat., xiii.. Sponges, 1888. 



