1907-] Records of the Indian Museum. 273 



and sometimes in the middle, closely resembling those of a form 

 found by Hanitsch [Irish Naturalist, 1895, p. 128, pi. iv) in Ireland 

 and provisionally referred by him to E. crateriformis, Leidy. The 

 gernmule spicules, moreover, were not or barely bi'rotulate ; the 

 majority of them ending in a sharp, stout, vertical spine surrounded 

 by a ring of transverse spines barely to be distinguished from 

 those on the shaft. The spicules were, however, placed upright in 

 the coat of the gemmule, and although many of the latter were 

 still immature, some of them appeared to be fully formed. Large 

 numbers of similar spicules occurred scattered in the parenchyma, 

 and I also found a few free spicules of an irregularly massive outhne.' 

 In July I obtained fresh specimens from the same tank and sub- 

 mitted them to a careful examination. In these examples the 

 majority of the gemmules were fully formed, their spicules being 

 distinctly birotulate and agreeing with those of the type of the 

 species. The skeleton spicules were no longer pointed and expanded 

 at the ends, although their outlines were still rather irregular, 

 but closely resembled those of the type. Numerous free birotulates 

 were found in the parenchyma. From this I conclude that the 

 specimens found in May were immature, and that their peculiarities 

 were due to their immaturity. E. indica is, as I suggested in my 

 original description, closely allied to E. crateriformis, but the aper- 

 ture of the gemmule is situated on a distinct prominence and is 

 not markedly crateriform. 



