24 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



lotrocliota aceraia, n.sp. 



Compressed, lobose, sessile, irregular and somewhat cavernous. 

 Vents small and scattered, some marginal. Surface glabrous 

 but uneven ; minutely reticulate in parts. Texture soft and 

 spongy, but at the same time tough and fibrous. Colour in life 

 and in spirit dark brown. 



Skeleton, a very loose and irregular, rather small-meshed reticu- 

 lation of multispicular fibre, usually with indistinct spongin. 

 Many megascleres are loosely scattered between the fibres. 

 There is no special dermal skeleton beyond a few sparse, radiating 

 tufts of strongyla. The reticulate character of the dermal mem- 

 brane is due to the arrangement of the underlying soft tissues. 



Megascleres, (a) smooth styli, usually moi-e or less curved ; 

 evenly rounded off" at one end and sharply pointed at tlie other ; 

 size variable, say about 0-2 by 0-006 mm. ; (d) smooth oxea, of 

 about the same size and shape as the styli but sharply pointed 

 at both ends ; (c) smooth strongyla, straight or nearly so, and 

 evenly rounded off at both ends, varying from a little shorter and 

 stouter to a little longer and slenderer than the average styli. 

 All these forms are abundantly intermingled in the deeper parts 

 of the sponge, but the sparse dermal tufts appear to consist 

 chiefly if not entirely of the strongylote megascleres. 



Microscleres, the usual amphiastra, usually about 012 mm. 

 long. 



This species is distinguished by its ])rown colour, and by the 

 presence of the abundant oxeote megascleres. From /. coccinea 

 it is also distinguished by the much larger microscleres. 



R.N. 434 (x, 19 f; "seal bi'own with a coating of olive 

 yellow '"'), 



Genus Forcepia, Carter. 



Megascleres usually diactinal, tylota or strongyla, sometimes 

 becoming stylote. Microscleres isocheUe and forcipes, possibly 

 with other forms. 



Forcepia colonensis, Carter. 



Forcepia colonensis, Carter, A.M.N.H., F(;bruary, 1885, p. 110. 

 Sitberites biceps, Carter, A.M.N.H., February, 1886, p. 117. 



