286 "ENDEAVOUR" SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



From examination ol numerous specimens of this species, 

 brought together from many localities, I find that its sub- 

 division into three varieties, as proposed by Lendenfeld, cannot 

 be maintained. So far as I am able to judge, the specimens 

 being without exception preserved in a dry state, Lendenfeld's 

 very full account of the external and skeletal structure, is 

 substantially correct ; but it falls short in reference to the 

 great variability displayed, not only in the size of the meshes 

 formed by the reticulating lamellae, but also in the degree of 

 development of the spicules both in point of size and number. 

 Thus, to take first the case of the spicules : 



(i.) The styli vary in maximum size in different specimens 

 from 70 x 3 ;i to 115 x 7/1, their range of length {i.e., the 

 difference between the longest and shortest) in any given speci- 

 men being about two-fifths of the length of the longest. The 

 greater the size of these spicules, the greater apparently is 

 their relative abundance ; in some specimens in which they are 

 of least size, their number is extremely small. In shape they 

 are normally very similar to the styli of E. (Aulena) crassa, 

 as depicted by Lendenfeld {op. cit., pi. viii., figs. 20, 21), but 

 as a rule they are not quite so abruptly pointed as these ; 

 always, however, a certain proportion of them approach more 

 or less to the conical form represented by Lendenfeld {loc. cit., 

 pi. viii., fig. 18) as characteristic for the variety intermedia 

 (and presumably, therefore, for the species). In none of the 

 specimens that I have examined have I found a preponderance 

 of conically-shaped spicules, and I therefore regard Lenden- 

 feld's figures as misleading to the extent that they convey the 

 impression of a difference between E. gigantea and E. laxa 

 in the forms of their styli. 



(ii.) The auxiliary spicules vary in different specimens from 

 140 to 195 H in maximum length, and from 2 to 4 /i in maxi- 

 mum diameter. In some specimens they are rather rare; in 

 others comparatively abundant : also, their number relatively 

 to that of the styli varies greatly. They are, in general, 

 stoutest in the case of specimens in which they are most 

 abundant, and vice versa ; their stoutness, however, varies, to 

 some extent at least, independently of their length. A peculiar 

 point in connection with these spicules is the fact that whereas 

 in some specimens they are almost exclusi\ely tornostyles, in 

 others they are almost exclusively amphistrongyles ; in this 

 respect the species resembles Echinochalina anomala, sp. nov. 

 From Lendenfeld's description one would suppose the 

 spicule to be invariably a strongyle ; but, as a matter of 

 fact, specimens with strongyles appear to be the exception. 

 So far I have met with no specimen in which there was any 

 approach to equality in number of the two forms of the 



