18 



K. MITSUKURI : STUDIES ON 



o^yll specimens may bo described as var. triracUata. I can detect 

 no difference at all between St. chaUengeri and Sy7i. alcxanclrl, 

 while the points raised by Ludwig seem to me to be dne either 

 to the state of preservation or to the incompleteness of the earlier 

 author's description. If we however put a great deal of weight 

 on the shape of the spicules, the Japanese specimens, which have 

 almost entirely triradiate spicules, might be separated as Syn. 

 triracUata. But there are also triradiate spicules in Thkel's and 

 Ludwig's specimens, only they are much less numerous than the 

 four-armed ones. 



The choice between the two courses is almost entirely a 

 matter of fancy. The safest course perhaps is not to disturb 

 Theel's descriptions at all, and to establish my specimens 

 for the present at least as a separate species, leaving the ques- 

 tion of identity between the three sets of specimens to be settled 

 bv future investigations. 



4. Synallactes discoidalis, sj)- i^- 

 (Textfig. 3). 

 Specimens examined : — 



Speciineu 14(58 was observed in tlie fresli state. 



