312 L. R. CRAWS HAY. 



tinuous strand. They appear, on the contrary, to be permanent, while 

 the contained rods remain separated at their ends from one another by 

 a narrow interval between adjacent beads. . These fibrillae, and their 

 contained rods in particular, give a deeper reaction to- stains like eosin 

 and methylene blue than the deposits of spongin about the ordinary 

 skeleton, and this fact, coupled with that of the independence of the 

 two skeletons, suggests that the substance of the primary skeleton may 

 be of a slightly different constitution from that of true spongin. 



BENIERINAE, Eidley and Dendy. 

 Halichondria sp. 



A fragment of a Halichondria, too small for determination, occurred 

 on Inachus dorscUensis at Position 3. 



Depth, 40 fath. 



The skeleton is very irregular, with a confused and broken network 

 of loosely constructed spicular bundles forming the main lines. It is 

 chiefly composed of large oxea 250-350 jm in length and 7-10 /m 

 in width, together with smaller oxea 200-250 /ul in length and 2-3 /ul 

 in width, not very numerous ; and thinly scattered very slender oxea, 

 100-200 /UL in length and 1 ^a in width. The spiculation approximates 

 nearly to that of Bowerbank's H. caduca. 



Reniera, Nardo. 

 Without yet having had an opportunity of examining any of Bower- 

 bank's original specimens of this difficult genus, the species here 

 considered are named so far as possible from his descriptions and 

 figures alone. 



Reniera indistincta ( Bowerbank). 



At Position 3, two specimens, each forming a shallow investing 

 growth on Inachus. 



„ 12, one specimen, forming an irregular growth on a 



Pecten valve, with tubular processes; 10 mm, in 

 extent. 



„ 14, two specimens, one forming a shallow investing 



growth on Inachns, the other an irregular mass, 

 30 X 20 mm. in extent, intermingled with Hydroids 

 and forming tumulous elevations. 



„ 25, one specimen, with basal attachment 15 mm. in 



diameter, and one lateral prominence, surmounted 

 by a tubular process 15 mm. in height ; on a 

 Chaetopterus tube. 

 Depth, 40-46 fath. 



