Monthy Microscope | = Royal Microscopical Society. 245 
tenacious ooze of the ocean’s bed. By careful washing these un- 
kempt locks have been disentangled, and the true origin and dis- 
tribution of each separate glassy filament been made manifest, while 
at the same time numerous other delicate organisms have been set 
free which at first appeared to be inextricably held ,captive in their 
mazy embrace. Among these were a quantity of a beautiful trans- 
parent Pecten (P. vitreus), numerous specimens of a fragile Ophiurid, 
and a whole host of Foraminifera, which may some day form the 
subject of a separate communication. 
Plate LXIII., Fig. 2, represents Pheronema Gray? treated as 
above described, and Fig. 1, in the right-hand corner, illustrates 
Pheronema Carpenteri under similar conditions. The remainder 
of the Plate is occupied by figures of the spicula most characteristic 
of the first-named species. 
The sponge I have next to call attention to, though being an 
indirect result of the expedition, is scarcely less wanting in interest 
than the form last alluded to. 
While engaged in inspecting the numerous treasures contained 
in the Lisbon Museum of Natural History, my attention was arrested 
by some dilapidated hat-like bodies, of a whitish-brown colour and 
felty consistence, which occupied a considerable amount of space 
on the well-filled shelves. Professor du Bocage, the talented Con- 
servator of the Museum, informed me that Professor Wyville 
Thomson had recently examined these organisms, and had com- 
municated to him his opinion that they were vegetable and not 
animal structures. The eminent Professor of Belfast had probably 
only commenced his sponge studies at that period, otherwise he 
would hardly have failed to recognize the essentially spongious 
nature of their tissues. A lighted match, applied by my friend 
Mr. Fielding, determined on the spot the silicious consistence of the 
framework of one of the objects of our suspicions, and a subsequent 
microscopic examination on board the yacht, of a piece kindly placed 
at my disposal by Prof. Bocage, established beyond doubt the cor- 
rectness of our premises, while at the same time it revealed to us 
that we had lit upon a sponge altogether new to science. 
mie may proceed to summarize its technical peculiarities as 
follows :— 
Askonema, nov. gen.,* W. 8S. Kent. 
Sponge body, bag- or cup- shaped, of felt-like consistence ; com- 
posed of an interlacement of long filiform silicious fibres or spicula. 
Interspersed among these, hexradiate spicula of various sizes and 
minute multiradiate ones with capitate extremities. 
| While the revise of this paper passes through my hands, I avail 
myself of the opportunity of expressing my conviction that “the 
lovely lace-like vase form, upwards of three feet in diameter at the 
* aonds, a bag; vnuwa, that which is spun. 
