70 



with the staurasters in the parenchyme ; in B. decora I failed to find any hex- 

 asters in the parenchyme. On the other hand the large and stoijt, curved or 

 angularly bent oxydiactines which I found among the parenchymal principalia of 

 B. decora are not mentioned by Ijima in B. ohinoseana. The unusual shortness 

 of the radial rays of the hypodermalia mentioned by Ijima in the latter, has not 

 been noticed by me in the former. 



In spite of their great similarity I therefore find it necessary to establish a 

 species for the specimens examined by me, distinct from Ijima's Begadrella 

 ohinoseana. It is another question whether these two species should be placed 

 in the genus Begadrella, for it must be taken into consideration, that the peculiar 

 oxystaurasters so characteristic of them, do not occur in Begadrella phoenix 

 0. Schm. the only species of this genus formerly known. Neither in the West- 

 Indian specimens of this species nor in the specimens from the Gulf of Gascogne 

 studied by Topsent, have such spicules been met with. They are here replaced 

 by the remarkable onychasters. As however these sponges agree in the shape 

 and structure of the whole body and all the spicules with the single exception 

 of the staurasters and as — at least in Ijima's species — oxyhexasters occur together 

 with the oxystaurasters, it will I think be best to unite the three species in one 

 genus. 



Begradrella decora was found southwest of Cape Comorin 7'' 17' N. 76" 54' 

 30" E. in a depth of 787 m.=430 fths. 



DiCTTAULUS, F. E. Sch. 



Dictyaulus elegans F. E. Sch. 

 Plate XII. 



1895 Dictyaulus elegans F. E. Soh. in Abh. Preuss. Ak. 1895 pp. 36-42, Taf. IV. 

 1900 F. E. Sch. in Abh. Preuss. Ak. 1900 pp. 34, 35. 



This species is characterised by a very elegant external shape and an extra- 

 ordinary abundance of various exceedingly beautiful parenchymal hexasters. 

 Two specimens of this species, both representing the upper third of a long 

 tubular sponge, are contained in the "Investigator " collection. One is 5 cm. 

 broad and 10 cm. long, the other 11 cm. broad and 18 cm. long. The larger 

 fragment formed the upper part of an individual probably half a meter in length. 

 The sponge-tube has a circular transverse section, and is slightly thickened above, 

 where it is closed by a very delicate terminal sieve-plate. This is convex, watch- 

 glass-shaped in the smaller, more flat in the larger specimen. It is composed of 

 a wide-meshed network with one central stellar node in the smaller specimen 

 (pi. XII, f . 1) and with several such nodes in the larger specimen. 



