Genera Axinella, Phakellia, Acanthella a. o. 309 
this is for our present purpose of no consequence, I will not discuss 
this point here. If one does not feel inclined to unite them into one 
species, it remains at any rate an established fact that they belong 
to Azxinella. This is, I think, generally accepted and GrAY's sugges- 
tion (1867, p. 514) to erect a new genus (Astrospongia) for Axinella 
polypoides has found no support. Quite correetly Torsent (1894, 
p. 16) states not to understand why Haxırmsca (1894, p. 179, 200) 
bringes the sponge to Tragosia. 
Apart from the interpretation of verrucosa, einnamomea etc. as 
different species or as such modifications of one species, as I have called 
tropi (1911, , p. 26), they must foreibly form the starting point, they 
are i. o. t. typical representatives. Since ScHMmipr’s paper of 1862, 
various authors have described “new species” of Axinella; the number 
has increased to between 80 and 90! Some of them are obviously 
mere synonyms of existing species. By such forms the character of 
the genus is not altered. Some others are quite insufficiently des- 
cribed to allow an opinion. Again others are most certainly no 
Azxinellaee Thus, for instance, if Euters (1870) reckons Phakellia 
ventilabrum to Azxinella this only gives proof that he did not catch 
the generic difference. CARTER described (1885, p. 359 — 360) an Axinella 
atropurpurea, according to Dexpy (1896, p. 47) the type specimen of 
this sponge contains acanthostyli and is consequently removed from 
Azxinella. Carter’s Axinella flabellata possesses sigmata; therefore it 
cannot be an Azxinella. Such examples are numerous. 
With a few exceptions we have very little certainty; but we 
do know what sort of thing ScHhmipr’s Arinella verrucosa is. For 
my present purpose, viz. to show that Azinella and Phakellia are 
certainly two different genera it is sufficient to study the skeleton. 
I will, therefore, only speak about the structure of this part of the 
sponge. ScHamipr says (1862, p. 62): “Auf dem Querdurchschnitt 
(through the sponge) hebt sich sehr bestimmt die dichtere, fast wie 
ein Knorpelstreif aussehende Axe von der braungelben pigmentierten 
Rinde ab. An der Basis nimmt die Axe fast den ganzen Durch- 
messer des Stammes ein und sendet einige kurze Haft- oder Wurzel- 
läufer aus. Im Verlauf der Äste verliert sich der Gegensatz zwischen 
Axe und peripherischem Parenchym mehr und mehr, indem das Horn- 
netzwerk weniger hart wird und schwindet.” ') Indeed we may 
1) It is of course meant, that this phenomenon appears at the tops 
of the branches. 
