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upper portion of the coil, closo and compact, is imbedded 

 perpendicularly in a conical or cylindrical sponge ; and usually 

 part of the sponge-substance, is covered with a brownish 

 leathery coating, whose surface is studded with the polyps of 

 an alcyonarian zoophyte. Such is the general effect of a 

 complete specimen of Hyalonema." In the same work he 

 says •' Hyalonema was also common ; but we got few perfect 

 specimens with the sponge and glass rope in connection. The 

 conical sponge heads were very numerous ; they seemed to 

 have been torn off by the edge of the dredge, the rope remain- 

 ing in the mud, and the ropes were frequently brought up 

 without the sponge. Almost all the ropes were encrusted 

 with the constant * commensal ' of Hyalonema, Poly thoa fat ua. 

 Very young examples of Hyalonema, with the whisp from 

 5 mm. to 20 mm. long, had usually no JPalythoa on them ; 

 but when they had attained above the latter dimensions in 

 almost every case one could see the first Polyp of the Palythoa 

 making its appearance as a small bud, and its piuk-encrusting 

 csenosarc spreading round it." When the Challenger was 

 in the South Atlantic it has been mentioned that the trawl 

 was put down in 1,375 fathoms, and on the following day in 

 1,600 fathoms, between Prince Edward's Islands and the 

 Crozets, the number of species taken in these two hauls 

 was very large, and many of them belonged to especially 

 interesting genera, while many were new to science. There 

 occurred with others the well-known genera JEuplectella and 

 Hyalonema, showing the wide range of those beautiful sponges. 

 It hag only been during the last few years that specimens of 

 the beautiful silicious frames or skeletons of the sponge 

 belonging to the Alcyonoid family named Euplectella has been 

 discovered in greater numbers, and have been brought from 

 the Philippine Islands to New South Wales by the ships 

 arriving from those islands with cargoes of sugar. The 

 Euplectella is of a most singular and beautiful texture, ex- 

 citing admiration by the clear transparency of its exquisite 

 lace like work, and the delicacy with which the threads are 

 apparently interwoven, forming a construction of delicate net- 

 work not to be equalled by any human fabric. They assume 

 for the most part the form of a cornucopia, and are attached, 

 when partly buried in the mud, to the sand, coral rock, or 

 other objects, even to the mud itself by a bundle of terminal 

 fibres or threads having a silky or silvery lustre, situated at 

 the smaller and narrower end or base of the sponge. In the 

 living state this silicious or flinty skeleton is enveloped by a 

 delicate gelatinous organic tissue of a pale brown colour. This 

 beautiful sponge can now be seen in our public museums, and 

 also in many private collections, and as I have been able to send 



