STUDIES ON THE COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF SPONGES. 127 
Studies on the Comparative Anatomy of 
Sponges, 
VI. On the Anatomy and Relationships of Lelapia australis, 
a Living Representative of the Fossil Pharetrones. 
By 
Arthur Dendy, D.Sc. 
With Plate 13. 
I. IntRopuctory REMARKs. 
In my memoir on the ‘Structure and Classification of the 
Calcarea Heteroccela,’ recently published in this Journal 
(1), I had occasion to refer to that very remarkable calcareous 
sponge Lelapia australis. Unfortunately this species is 
extremely rare, only two specimens being as yet known. 
Both of these were dredged by Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson, 
M.A., off the Victorian coast, and both were sent to Mr. Carter, 
by whom their external characters and spiculation were de- 
scribed (without illustration) in the ‘Annals and Magazine of 
Natural History’ (2). At the time when I wrote I had never 
had the opportunity of personally investigating this sponge, 
but since then Mr. Carter, with his usual generosity, has most 
kindly sent me a portion of the better of the two specimens, 
preserved in spirit.1_ He has also sent me an unpublished sketch 
of the entire sponge, and has permitted me to make use of it 
in the present memoir (fig. 1). For this and many other kind- 
1 The specimen itself is in the British Museum. 
VOL. 386, PART 2,—NEW SER. K 
