Catalogue of Non-Calcareous Sponges. 233 



unexamined, and thoagh the majority of these are doubtless 

 duplicates, yet a certain proportion of new species will probably 

 be found amongst them. The bulk of Mr. Wilson's collection of 

 non-calcareous sponges is contained in upwards of nine hundred 

 large Mason jars, each containing, as a rule, a single specimen, or 

 at any rate so much of a specimen as could be got into the jar. 

 All these have been microscopically examined, and will be 

 included in the present catalogue. The specimens themselves ai'e 

 at present lodged in the Biological School of the Melbourne 

 University. 



The production of the catalogue has been unavoidably interfered 

 with by my removal from JNIelbourne to Christchurch at the 

 commencement of the present year. I wished, if possible, to 

 complete the external examination of the specimens, and the 

 preparation of rough microscopic sections of each before I left 

 Melbourne, so as to avoid the necessity of removing the whole 

 collection to New Zealand. This could not have been done had 

 it not been for the great kindness of my friend, Mr. A. G. Fryett, 

 who most generously oftered his assistance, and devoted a month 

 of continuous work to the cutting and mounting of the necessary 

 sections. Meanwhile I drew up short descriptions of the external 

 characters of each specimen and numbered each consecutively as 

 it happened to come in the collection. I was thus able to 

 bring to New Zealand sufficient data for the systematic working- 

 out of the collection. Before proceeding with this work, however, 

 it was necessary to make a careful study of the numerous species 

 described by Mr. H. J. Carter, F.R.S., froin material' sent to 

 England some years ago by Mr. Wilson, and now lodged in the 

 British Museum. Thanks to the kindness of Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., 

 keeper of the Zoological Department in the British Museum, I 

 have in my possession fragments of a very large number of Mr. 

 Carter's types, amounting to over 200 specimens of non-calcareous 

 sponges, some dry and some in spirit. Of all these I prepared 

 microscopical sections, and compared them with Mr. Carter's 

 descriptions. I was thus able to gain an extensive personal 

 knowledge of Mr. Carter's species, which will, I hope, add greatly 

 to the value of the present work. 



Amongst the collection in Melbourne I tind that there are a 

 very large number of duplicates, there being in some cases two or 



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