, Monthly Microscopical 
246 Transactions of the ‘Sournal, Nov. 1, 1810. 
lip,” referred to in ‘ Nature,’ for Oct. 20th, as taken in the recent 
‘ Porcupine’ expedition, is identical with the species I here intro- 
duce under the name of Askonema. A few words’ conversation with 
Dr. Wyville Thomson has tended to more fully deepen this con- 
viction. Should my surmises prove correct, my opinion expressed 
in reference to the habitat of this interesting sponge will likewise 
be confirmed. | 
A. Setubalense, sp. nov. 
Sponge body, vase- or sac- like, of large dimensions, expanding 
superiorly, often upwards of two feet in height; composed of inter- 
lacing fasciculi of long filiform fibres or spicula. Individual filiform 
spicula, smooth, finely canaliculate, varying in diameter from ,,,th 
to s4,th of an inch, occasionally possessing a central or excentral 
inflation, as at Plate LXIV., Fig.4. Hexradiate spicula of two types, 
the one large, with smooth attenuate radii, the other of smaller but 
more varying size, with obtuse extremities and entirely erectly 
spinous surfaces. Scattered through this sponge there also occa- 
sionally occur simple attenuate spicula clavate, and erectly spined 
at either extremity. (See Plate LXIV., Fig. 5.) Average diameter 
of the minute multiradiate spicula ,1,th of an inch. 
The radi of the minute sarcode spicula last referred to may 
originate from a six-rayed foundational portion, as in the “ spinulo- 
multifurcate hexradiate stellate” type of Dr. Bowerbank; but an 
examination with a high power has failed to eliminate for me such 
a structure, each individual capitate radius apparently springing 
from a common irregularly spherical nucleus. All the specimens 
of this remarkable sponge, which I was accorded the honour of 
examining, possessed the same ragged basal extremity as represented 
in the reduced outline given at Fig. 1, so that from its hat-like 
point of view one would feel inclined to refer it to the species usually 
supposed to bedeck the head of one of the vivacious inhabitants 
of the Emerald Isle fresh from the allurements of “ Donnybrook 
Fair,” if I may be allowed to make so irrelevant a remark; this 
feature is, however, replete with scientific significance. It indicates 
that this sponge was either firmly attached by its base to some 
fixed submarine body, or otherwise being supported loosely in the 
muddy ooze, its interior cavity had become filled with sedimentary 
deposit to such an extent, that the bottom had given way on its 
removal being effected, either of which suppositions amply accounts 
for the lacerated inferior margin. 
A certain amount of doubt at present remains attached to the 
exact locality and circumstances in which the specimens of this 
Sponge were taken, some of the fishermen asserting that it is pro- 
cured from the numerous rocky caverns that fringe the coast-line 
between Cezimbra and Cape Espichel, while others state that it 
inhabits the deep-sea fishing-ground, many miles off the coast, in 
