SPONGES.-HALLMANN. 237 



C. avciiophora is of interest on account of the light which it 

 throws on the relationship of C. frondosa, Lendenfeld.^ In the 

 latter, the principal spicules are styli, strongyla and oxea ; the 

 accessory spicules are sub-tylotiform ; and microscleres are 

 absent. Accordingly it might seem doubtful whether the 

 species should not be placed in Echinodictyiim rather than in 

 Clathria. However, in almost all other respects, including the 

 pinhole-like punctation of the surface, its agreement with C. 

 arcuophora is so striking, and its lack of resemblance to 

 typical species of Echinodictyuin so marked, as not only to 

 put beyond question the propriety of its inclusion in Clathria, 

 but also to preclude any likelihood that it forms a connecting- 

 link between the two genera. 



In C. frondosa the niore sponginous fibres which ramifv in 

 the axial plane of the sponge, are much less strongly developed 

 than in C. arcuophora, and the lateral or "secondary" main 

 fibres run, not perpendicularly as in the latter, but 

 obliquely (i.e., upwards and outwards) to the surface. Indeed, 

 in the arrangement of its skeleton, as well as in the form of 

 its principal spicules, C. frondosa approaches so closely to 

 species like Axinella symbiotica, Whitelegge, and PJiakcUia 

 jJabellata, Carter, that, if it were not for its possession of 

 spined accessory spicules, probably no one would hesitate in 

 regarding it as congeneric with these species ; even as it is I 

 think that the relationship between them is by no means 

 remote. 



Genis Wilsoneli.a, Carter. 

 1885. WilsoneUa, Carter, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), x^i., 



1885, p. 366. 

 1888. Clathriopsamma (pars), Lendenfeld, Cat. Sponges 

 Austr. Mus., 1888, p. 227. 

 The main skeleton is a reticulation {in which connect- 

 ing fibres may be relatively fezo) of well-developed horny 

 fibres echinated by acanthostyles. Dermal skeleton 



1 Antherochalina frondosa, Lendenfeld, "Die Chalineen des australis- 

 chen Gebietes," Zool. .lahrb., 18S6-1887. p 765, pi. xxii., fig. 43; and 

 Cat. Sponges Austr. Mus., 1888, p. 90: Clatliria frondosa, Whitelegge, 

 Rec. Austr. Mus.. iv., No. 7, 1902, p. 288. 

 The fact that the Australian Museum specimen labelled (by Lenden- 

 feld) AntJierocltaliiia frondosa is specifically identical with the British 

 Museum (type?) specimen similarly labelled, together with the fact that 

 the former bears a scarcely less than perfect resemblance to the original 

 figured specimen, fixes the identity of this species beyond the possibility 

 of question, and shows the original description to be most unsatisfactory. 

 A re-description of the species of Antherochalina, and indeed of all the 

 species described in "Die Chalineen des Australischen Gebietes"— the 

 types of which are in the British Museum- is urgently needed. White- 

 legge's description of the spicules is in some respects misleading, and 

 he has overlooked the presence of scarce slender .styli (about 120 to 180 v 

 in length and up to 4 a in diameter) which, no doubt, represent auxiliary 

 megascleres. The principal megascleres— styli, strongyla and oxea— are 

 not, as he indicates, separable into three forms. They are curved or less 

 frequently uni-angulate or bi-angulate spicules varying in length from 

 220 to 340 ii, and in diameter up to 24 n- The oxea and strongyla (or 

 rather, substrongyla) are usually asymmetrical with regard to opposite 

 extremities. 



