CAULOPHACIDvE. 79 



From the above assemblage of seven genera may be separated 

 Caulophacus, Aulascus and Sympagella, as having a number of 

 important systematic characters in common, by virtue of which 

 common points they, as a group, seem to be clearly distinguishable 

 not only from all the remaining genera, but also from the Rossel- 

 lidaî. This group — an intimately coherent group — it is, which, I 

 think, deserves institution into a distinct family, the Caulophacidre. 

 Since Aulascus appears to me as unitable with Sympagella, this 

 family may in fact be said to be made u]) of only the two genera, 

 Caulophacus and Sympagella. In both these genera the body is 

 probably always provided with a long and distinct stalk ;'•' the 

 dermalia and gastralia are invariably pinules, in which the freely 

 projecting pinular ray is always of a characterization markedly 

 different from that of any other ray in the same spicule ; the 

 rosettes are mainly discohexasters, while oxyhexasters may be 

 said to be generally totally wanting/''* 



Whereas, what remain of the Asconematidae, viz., the four 

 genera Asconema, Hyalascus, Calyeosoma, and Calycosaccus, consti- 

 tute a rather heterogeneous assemblage. In contrast to the Caulo- 

 phacidœ, they have a body which never seems to exhibit a long, 

 distinct stalk ; the freely projecting ray of the dermalia and 

 gastralia is either not at all or comparatively but little differen- 

 tiated from other rays in the same spicule ; the rosettes always 

 include an abundance of oxyhexasters, occurring in addition 

 to either discohexasters or some other hexaster variety. The 

 combination of the above-indicated common features suffices to 



* Only in Sympagella {Aulasain) johnstoni has tlie pi'osence of a stalk not been determined , 

 the species being known from an incomplete specimen lacking the basal part. 



** Oxyhexasters are known from Sympagella nux only, in which they occur but rarely 

 and inconstantly; so that, they have been put by F. E. Schitlze ('99, P- 34) under the 

 uncharacteristic hexaster varieties or aberrations of the species. 



