248 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



form an irregular reticulation. The dermal skeleton is rather lax 

 for a Suberites, composed of radiating tufts of similar spicules, 

 frequently interrupted by a delicate pore-bearing membrane. 



Spicules, long, slender, styli or subtylostyli, straight or slightly 

 curved; with feebly developed and irregular heads or none at 

 all; usually fairly sharply pointed at the apex. Size tolerably 

 uniform throughout, say about - 37 by O006 mm., with no 

 marked distinction between the dermal and deep spicules. 



I have little doubt that this species is identical with Mr. 

 Carter's S. ivilsoni, var. albidus, though in the absence both of 

 proper description and specimen of the latter it is impossible to 

 be certain, and it seems safest to give it a distinct specific name. 

 The absence of the very remarkable and characteristic colour of 

 S. wilsoni appears to be sufficient reason for specific distinction 

 in this case. 



R.N. 1128 (x). 



Suberites difficilis, n. sp. 



Sponge massive, rounded, lobulated, compressed. Vents? 

 Surface granular to subglabrous. Texture compact, corky, 

 scarcely compressible. Colour in spirit pale yellow (accidentally 

 stained pinkish on the outside). 



Skeleton, internally composed of loose, irregular bands of rather 

 large spicules forming a very irregular network, the meshes of 

 which are filled with numerous much smaller spicules thickly 

 scattered through the soft tissues. Dermal skeleton composed 

 of dense brushes of the smaller spicules arranged radially at the 

 surface in the usual manner. 



Spicules, of two very distinct sizes, though of course with 

 intermediate forms ; (a) relatively large, long and slender, 

 straight or nearly so, fusiform, tapering 'gradually to each 

 end, sharply pointed, without heads or with slightly developed 

 annular swellings at some little distance from the evenly rounded 

 base, size variable, averaging say about - 9 by 0-01 mm., but 

 difficult to measure, as owing to their great length they are 

 generally broken in the section, (b) Of the same form as the 

 above but very much smaller, averaging say about - l 2 by 

 0-014 mm. 



