84- Proceedimjs of lite Royai Society of Vicforia. 



Localities. — Port Jackson ; Port Phillip ; Bass Straits; St. 

 Vincent's Gulf; west coast of Australia (various authors and 

 collections ; Hseckel also records the species from Java). 



K3a. Sycon [jelatinosum var. whiteleggil, nov. 



I propose to distinguish by the above name a very 

 beautiful variety of the foregoing species found by Mr. T. 

 Whitelegge at Watson's Bay, Port Jackson. There are nine 

 specimens, all solitary and with a well-developed oscular 

 fringe of long silky spicules. In addition to this oscular 

 fiinge, however, all have a beautiful frill or collar of 

 long, silky spicules, projecting like a halo from the base 

 of the oscular fringe and at right angles to the long- 

 axis of the sponge. In external form this variety closely 

 i'(>.sembles Hpeckel's beautiful figure of S. (SycaviuTYi) 

 clegaDS. The dermal oxea are long and slender, and gradu- 

 ally sharp-pointed at each end, and the more distal tubar 

 triradiates are greatly enlarged, with long and stout, but 

 still straight basal rays. These peculiarities in spiculation 

 are, however, found in some specimens of ;S^. gelatiiwsum, 

 horn which the present variety cannot be sharply 

 distinguished. 



Locality. — Watson's Bay, Port Jackson (coll. T. White- 

 legge). 



14. Sycon glganteum, n. sp. 



Solitary, with very short stalk or none at all. Tubular, 

 greatly elongated, in parts more or less compressed, but not 

 varying greatly in diameter throughout ; with a single, 

 wide, naked osculum. Both specimens are curved or bent. 

 The largest is nearly 100 mm. in length by 14 mm. in 

 breadth ; the other is only a little shorter. The wall of the 

 sponge is about 3 mm. in thickness. The dermal surftice is 

 in part quite smooth and in part tessellated. 



The radial chambers are narrow and gi-eatly elongated, they 

 branch repeatedly and the branches run parallel with one 

 another to the dermal surface. They communicate with the 

 gastral cavity by long exhalant canals, from which they are 

 separated by diaphragms. These exhalant canals appear 

 like continuations of the chambers only without collared 

 cells, they may unite together before opening on the gastral 

 surfiice. The chambers are approximately circular in trans- 

 verse section. The inhalant canals are irregular and very 



