45 
Local. Barents-sea [lat. 74° 10’N.; long. 23° 20’; July 19, 1878; 
lat. 74° 16'N.; long. 29°47’E., July 7, 1879]. 
Depth. 220 Fathoms (1878); 192 fathoms (1879). 
Special description. 
Ridley, in one of his interesting papers on Sponges *) accepted 
Gray’s genus Alebion, which seemed to him to be „the only genus 
at all correctly defined, of the four in which he has placed these 
and the allied species”, but he adds: „the character of branching 
should however, be omitted from it”. From this genus Alebion 
Ridley has described a new species, A. proximum, from the Straits 
of Magellan, and included in the same genus three Halichondriae 
of Bowerbank, viz. H. Pattersoni, Hyndmani and Ingalli. In my 
paper on the Desmacidinae?) I have arranged these three under 
Esperia; but I now believe that it is better to separate those spe- 
cies which have „eylindrical” spicules with more or less distinct 
heads, from those in which this kind of spieules are absent. T'here 
are yet other Sponges belonging to Alebion, about which I hope to 
be able to give further details another time. 
The Alebion piceum n. sp. is a cup-shaped great mass of a 
pitchy colour (in spirit) as shown in fig. 20 on plate I. Ridley, who 
has seen the three Bowerbankian species above mentioned, states 
that they are all incrusting; he had the great kindness of compa- 
ring my species with his A. proximum and those of Bowerbank, 
and is of opinion that it is another species. The sizes of the 
spicules to which he, as I believe attaches too much importance, 
are’): „Spined acuate: 0,316 by 0,016 mm.; cylindrical bicapitated 
0,28 by 0,009 mm.; inequi-anchorate 0,021 to 0,0316 mm. long; 
bipocillate 0.0127 mm. long”. In comparing these measurements 
with my figures, it will be clear that f. i. the greatest anchorates 
and the smallest differ so very much, that it is almost impossible 
to give an average size. 
— 
1) Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1831 pag. 120. 
2) Notes from the Leyden Museum, pag. 144. 
3) From a letter of Mr. Ridley. 
