Studìes Oli Sponges. 44-^ 



the second place tliere is the family of the Spomjidae. possessing nu- 

 merous sand particles etc. at least in the main fibres. Between these 

 Stands the genns Spongelia, having as the Spongidae many sand particles 

 in the hornfìbres, but being distinguished from them by the shape of the 

 ciliated Chambers and the whole arrangement of the canalsystem. The 

 genera Hircinia F. E. S. and Oligoceras F. E. S. may easily be brought 

 into a fonrth family, characterised by the well known filaments. 



Now it is clear after my description that Velinea^ wanting the fila- 

 ments does not belong to the Hircinidae^ as I propose to cali the fourth 

 family. The Spongidae so well described by F. E. Schulze are cha- 

 racterised by him as follows : »Geißel-Kammern halbkugelig und klein^ 

 mit besonderem Ausfiihrungsgange versehen und von einem körnchen- 

 reichen Bindegewebe umgeben, das Skelet aus einem Netze solider, 

 coucentrisch geschichteter, hier und da fremde Körper, aber niemals 

 eigene Kieselbildungen enthaltender Sponginfasern (bestehend) .... Fila- 

 mente (fehlend)«. Evidently Velinea cannot be placed in this group. 

 So there is only aquestion whetherit is to be placed under the Aplijsinidae 

 or nnited with Spongelia in a new family. 



Von Lendenfeld i has split up Schulze's Aplijsinidae into two sub- 

 families, Aplysininae and AplysiUinae^ and has given as character for 

 the original family the want of foreign corpuscles in the fibres and the 

 presence of a central axis-substance. The whole arrangement of the 

 canalsystem in the two sub-families is a quite different one ; this diffe- 

 rence seems to me to be important enough to give these sub-families 

 the value of families. And on the other band the want of foreign bodies 

 in the skeleton -fibres and the presence of an axis-substance are not 

 important enough to be adopted as a family-characteristic. In the Spon- 

 gidae, Hircinidae and in Spongelia we see that not al 1 fibres have sand par- 

 ticles; in the second place we see that an axis is nearly always, perhaps 

 always present. Even within the family of the Aplysinidae F. E. S. 

 there are all possible transitions between the thin-walled fibres of Aphj- 

 sina and the thick-walled ones of Janthella. For the moment I think 

 we may distinguish three families : Aphjsinidae s. str., Aplysillinae v. 

 Lendenf. , for which I should like to write Aplysillidae - ; and Spotz- 

 gelidae. The canalsystems of Vero?igiaBwk., DendrospongiaRjSitt, Dar- 

 winella F. Müll. Sind Janthella Gray are still unknown. So we cannot 



> Von Lendenfeld, Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. XXXVIII. Bd. 188.3. p. 23.5. 

 2^ According to the Stricklandian Eule tbat names of families ought to termi- 

 nate in -idae, those of sub-families in -tnae. 



