122 RESEARCHES IN HELMINTHOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY. 



constituting the polyps ; and he supposed the fasciculus to grow as 

 a parasite from the sponge, frequently seen in specimens attached 

 to one of its extremities. This still appears to be the view of Dr. 

 Gray as announced in recent volumes of the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society, etc. 



Dr. Bowerbank views the siliceous rope, with its warty invest- 

 ment and the sponge mass at one end, altogether as the elements of a 

 sponge. The warts or polyps of Dr. Gray he regards as the oscules 

 of the sponge. 



Schultze, in an elaborate memoir (Die Hyalonemeu), accompanied 

 by beautiful plates representing the complete Hyah)unia, as the 

 result of his investigations determines the sponge mass and project- 

 ing siliceous rope to be altogether the elements of the sponge, and 

 the warty investment of the rope to belong to a polyp, to which he 

 gives the name of Polythoa fatita. In the crusts or individual polyps 

 he detected the arms filled with nettling cells. 



Brandt views the siliceous rope and its investment as a polyp, and 

 the sponge mass at one extremit}' as a parasite invading, ultimately 

 to destroy the polyp. 



Lastly, among the discordant views, Ehrenberg looks upon the 

 siliceous rope as an "artificial product of Japanese industry." 



Prof. L. continued, I shall not discuss this extraordinar}- differ- 

 ence of opinion among experts, but must confess that I view most 

 favorably the theory that the sponge mass and the siliceous rope 

 together constitute the sponge Hyalonema, while the wart}^ crust of 

 the rope constitutes a parasitic compound polyp, the Polythoa fahia 

 of Schultze. 



The sponge from Santa Cruz, in its body and projecting fasciculi 

 of siliceous threads, reminds one of the Hyalonema sponge, with its 

 siliceous rope, but the structure of the threads of the former more 

 nearly resembles those of the anchor threads of Euplectella. It is 

 evidently a different sponge from either of those just named, and 

 may be called Pheronema. 



The body of the sponge is oblong ovoidal, with the narrower end 

 upward, and with one side more prominent than the other. The lower 

 extremity is rather cylindroid and rounded truncate. The upper ex- 

 tremity is conical, with a truncate apex presenting a large circular 

 orifice. This is about 4 lines in diameter, and is the exit of a canal 

 which descends in the axis of the sponge for almost half its depth, 

 and then appears to divide into .several branches. The sides of the 

 sponge form thick den.se walls to the cylindrical canal, which is of 

 uniform diameter before its division. 



