CHAP. IX. | THE DEEP-SEA FAUNA. 423 
rind. He supposed that between this zoophyte and 
the sponge at its base, there subsisted a relation of 
guest and host, the zoophyte being constantly asso- 
ciated with the sponge; and in accordance with this 
view he proposed for the reception of the zoophyte 
a new group of aleyonarians under the name of 
‘Spongicole,’ as distinguished from the ‘ Sabulicolee’ 
(Pennatule) and the ‘ Rupicole’ (Gorgonie). 
Dr. Gray’s view seemed in many respects a natural 
one, and it was adopted in the main by Dr. Brandt 
of St. Petersburg, who in 1859 published a long 
memoir, describing a number of specimens brought 
from Japan to Russia. Dr. Brandt referred what he 
believed to be a zoophyte consisting of the coil and 
the crust, to a special group of sclerobasic zoanth- 
arians with a silicious axis. 
One consideration militated strongly against this 
hypothesis of Dr. Gray and Professor Brandt. No 
known zoophyte had a purely silicious axis; and 
such an axis made up of loose separate spicules 
seemed strangely inconsistent with the harmony of 
the class. On the other hand, silicious spicules of 
all forms and sizes were conceivable in sponges ; 
and in 1857 Professor Milne-Edwards, on the 
authority of Valenciennes, who was thoroughly 
versed in the structure of the Gorgonie, combined 
the sponge with the silicious rope, and degraded the 
zoophyte to the rank of an encrusting parasite. 
Anything very strange coming from Japan is to 
be regarded with some distrust. The Japanese are 
wonderfully ingenious, and one favourite aim of 
their misdirected industry is the fabrication of im- 
possible monsters by the curious combination of the 
