Kirk. — Sponges coUeded at the Krrmadec hhtndx. 581 



. ■ 

 among which are a few slender oxea. Siinihir spicules lie in the sponge- 

 flesh, and often parallel to the fibres. Secondary fibres not cored. Both 

 primary and secondary fibres are sparsely echinated by spined styli. On 

 the older surfaces of the sponge the echinating spicules are much more 

 numerous, and many of the styli that lie outside the fibres become closely 

 bound to them. 



Spicules : IVIegascleres — (1.) Smooth styli. These are long and slender, 

 and variously curved. They may be 0-5 mm. long, but seldom exceed 

 0-005 mm. in thickness. The thickest part of the spicule is usually about 

 one-cjuarter of the length from the base. Apex sharp. (2.) Smooth tylo- 

 styli ; very numerous, and presenting much variation. The most cha- 

 racteristic are, on an average, 0-7 mm. long and 0-008 mm. thick ; apex 

 sharp, base either simply tylote or with the tylosis not quite terminal 

 (fig. 6, 5). There are also exceedingly slender, hairlike tylostyli, sometimes 

 Avith a double tylosis (fig. 6, 6). (3.) Oxea : These are not numerous ; they 

 are slender and variously curved. Length, 0-045 mm. ; usually sharp- 

 pointed. Intermediate forms between these and the smooth styli occur. 

 (4.) Spined styli : These occur as echinating spicules only. They usually 

 taper from near the base to the apex. Size, 0-09 mm. by 0-007 mm. Spined 

 irregularly throughout their length, the spines directed backwards. Micro- 

 scleres (?) : There occur both in the sections and in the boiled-out pre- 

 parations, numerous irregular rodlike bodies that are possibly microscleres 

 (fig. 6, 8). They are usually straight, and may be scattered or arranged in 

 starlike masses. They seldom exceed 0-005 mm. in length. 



Three specim.ens received, two of them small and battered. Owing 

 to the great length of the characteristic spicules and to the fact that the 

 sponges had been much crashed in transit, the longer spicules are usually 

 broken. 



" Cast up on Denham Bay beach, Sunday Island ; 29/8/08." 



References. 

 I. Bowerbank : " A Monograph of the British Spongiadae.''^ 1866. 

 II. Ridley and Dendy : " Report on the Monaxonida of the Voyage of 

 H.M.S. ' Challenger.' " 1887. 



III. Dendy : " On West Indian Chalinine Sponges." Trans. Zool. Soc. 



Lond., vol. 12, pt. 10. 1890. 



IV. Dendy : " Report on Professor Herdman's Ceylon Sponges." Ceylon 



Pearl Oyster Fisheries Reports, 1905. Supplementary Report, 

 No. 18. 

 V. Von Lendenfeld : " Descriptive Catalogue of the Sponges in the 



Australian Museum, Sydney." 1888. 

 VI. Von Lendenfeld : " Die Chalineen des australischen Gebietes." 



Zool. Jahrb., band 2, 1887. 

 VII. Ridley : Spongiida, in Report on Zoological Collections made on 

 Voyage of H.M.S. " Alert." Brit. Museum Nat. Hist. Reports, 

 1884. 

 VIII. Schmidt : " Die Spongien des Adriatischen Meeres." 1862. 

 IX. Sollas : " Report on the Tetractinellida of the Voyage of H.M.S. 



' Challenger.' " 1888. 

 X. Topsent : " Spongiaires de la Bale d'Amboine." Revue Suisse de 



Zoologie, iv, 3, 1897. 

 XL Carter : Four Subspherous Sponges." Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 

 series 4, vol. 4. 



