IlS "ENDEAVOUE- SCIENTIFIC EESULTS. 



course may be perfectly reasonable and right so long as the 

 authenticity of the specimen remains undoubted, it surely can 

 no longer be pursued when sufficient evidence exists to prove 

 the contrary. 



It was not my intention, at the outset, to include in this 

 Report any details of the results of this subsidiary investiga- 

 tion (except in so far as they bore directly upon the species of 

 the "Endeavour" collection), but to reserve them as the 

 subject of an independent paper. Owing, however, to the 

 very unsatisfactory state of the descriptions of many of the 

 species examined, and in view of the possibility that a con- 

 siderable time may elapse before a complete account of them 

 can be furnished, I came to the conclusion that it would be 

 wrong to allow this opportunity to pass without at any rate 

 making such corrections as might render possible their identi- 

 fication. Accordingly I have added to the Report, often in the 

 form merely of foot-notes, a series of observations which 

 practically amount to a brief revision of the Ectyonina 

 originally described in various publications of the Aus- 

 tralian Museum. As the work of preparation was con- 

 ducted in the Australian Museum itself, I have had the adAan- 

 tage of having before me in most cases the actual specimens, 

 and in many cases the actual slides upon which the original 

 descriptions were based. In addition, very material assist- 

 ance was afforded me in the identification of species by a 

 valuable series of mounted sections of Port Phillip sponges 

 and a large number of fragments of Australian sponges pre- 

 served in the British Museum, which Prof. A. Dendy some 

 years ago generously placed at the disposal of this Museum. 



In regard to certain Ectyonine species I have expressed the 

 opinion that new genera should be established for them, but 

 I have purposely refrained from introducing such new genera 

 because I recognise that, in order to do this in a thoroughly 

 satisfactory manner, it would be necessary to undertake a 

 much wider comparative study of the species of this group 

 than — owing to lack of literature, if for no other reason — I 

 have found to be possible. 



After the manuscript of the Report had been completed and 

 at too late a date to admit of any alterations in the text, I 

 received a copy of the second part of Dr. Hentschel's paper 

 on the sponges of South-west Australia ; consequently any de- 

 ductions which it has enabled me to make are necessarily 

 relegated to the footnotes, or to concluding paragraphs. 



