2C,2 ■ENDEAVOUR" SCIENTIFIC EESULTS. 



length from i6o to (rarely) 205 /i, and attain a maximum dia- 

 meter (rarely) of 4 ji, whilst the principal vary in length from 

 75 to 110 li, and reach a diameter of 7 }i. In the "Challenger" 

 specimen the maximum dimensions of the spicules were 

 220 X 3.2 ;< and 110 x 6.3 /i, respectively. 



The specimens which Whitelegge, in his report on the 

 sponges of the "Thetis" Expedition, recorded as E. glabra, 

 prove to belong to a new species described below as R. 

 anomala. 



Lues. — Off Moncoeur Island, Bass Strait, 38 fms. ("Chal- 

 lenger") ; Port Phillip [Dendy) ; forty miles west of Kingston, 

 South Australia, 30 fms. ("Endeavour"). 



ECHINOCHALINA ANOMALA, Sp. nOV. 



(Fig. 68.) 



1907. Echinochalina glabra (err., non Ridley and Dendy), 

 Whitelegge, Mem. Austr. Mus., iv., 10, 1907, p. 507. 



External form massive, rounded. Sponge {in the dry 

 viaeeraled condition) someivhat of honeycomb-like struc- 

 ture, being formed of very thin membranous lamellce 

 which tympanize the {on an average j mm. wide) meshes 

 of an irregular reticulation of stout {up to 250 ;( in dia- 

 meter) spiculo-spongin fibre; the lamellcB are themselves 

 crossed only by a few {intcrretictdating) fibres of lesser 

 stoutness. All the fibres are provided with a stout com- 

 pact axial strand of {auxiliary) monactinally tapered am- 

 phistrongyla and {or) tor no styles, and are echinated — 

 fairly abundantly in the case of the stouter fibres — by sub- 

 conical {principal) styli, which, as a rule, are disposed 

 more or less perpend icidarly to them. Abundant auxiliary 

 spicules are scattered, inter stitially, together with a few 

 principal spicide^. Megascleres, sizes of : — (/.) Principal, 

 160 to 200 li in length, 9 to 10 ji in maximum diameter; 

 {ii.) auxiliary, 180 to 240 /.; in length, and about 5 jt in 

 maximum diameter. Microscleres absent. 



Having had the opportunity of examining undoubted ex- 

 amples of Echinochalina glabra, I am able to say that the five 

 specimens recorded and briefly described as such by White- 



