24 lANTHELLA. 



with each other by elevated ridges, which separate the concave tields. The 

 inhalant pores are situated on one side of the lamella, the oscula on the other. 

 The latter are 0-5-1-5 millim. wide, and generally situated in groups of five to 

 seven. The colour of the sponge when alive is bright yellow ; when the sponge 

 is exposed to air or fresh \\ater it changes to a dark blue ; in spirit it becomes 

 dark bi'ick-red or copper colour. 



The skeleton consists of radial fibres, which form bands extending from the 

 stem to the margin of the plate ; these bands are vertical to the surface of the 

 lamella. The main fibres approximate and coalesce in the stem, so as to form 

 a very dense structure. In the sponge-lamella the bands of main fibres are 

 connected by transverse fibres, vertical to the former and parallel to the surface; 

 these form similar bands as the main fibres. Besides these two systems of 

 fibres, which form regular square meshes, there are fibres vertical to the surface, 

 which are situated at the points of intersection of the two former systems. 

 The branches of the latter, which appear ramified in a dendritic manner, ter- 

 minate in the couuli. Dry specimens are very hard ; living ones exceedingly 

 soft ; spirit-specimens are flexible and readily compressible. 



The sponge is abundant in parts of the East Indies and on the Australian 

 coast. It is one of those few Australian sponges which have been kuown in 

 Europe for a considerable time. 



Geogkaphical Distribution.^ — Xorth coast of Australia : Torres Straits 

 (* Challenger'). West coast of Australia (7)'rtt/y). East coast of Australia: 

 Port Jackson (Lendenfeld, liamsat/), 



Indian Ocean (auctorum). 



lanthella basta, Gray. 

 (Plate IX.) 



Alcyonium irregulare &c., Albert Seba3, Locupletissimi rerum iiatiiraJium 



thesauri accurata descriptio et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio, 1734- 



1760, vol. iii. p. 183, tab, 95, nos. 2, 4, partim. 

 Basta marina «fec., George Everard Rumphius, Amboynsche Eariteyt-Kamer, 



1741, vol. vi. tab, 89. fig. 1. 

 lanthella basta, J. E. Gray, " Note on lanthella, a new Genus of Keratose 



Sponges," 1869, Proceedings of the Zoological Society London, 1869, p. 51. 

 Junthdla basta, E. E. Schulze, " Untersuchungen liber den Ban und die Ent- 



wicklung der Spongien. — IV, Mittheilung. Die Eamilie der Aplysinidoe,'- 



Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Band xxx. Seite 485 (1878). 

 faiiihclla flabelliformis, S. O. Eidley, Report on the Zoological Collections 



made in the Indo-Paeific Ocean during the Voyage of H.M.S. • Alert " in 



1881-1882, Spongida, p. 392, p. 601 (?). 



