282 Mr. H. J. Carter on 



from the executors of the hxte Dr. Bowerbank, labelled 

 '' S. Australia," and also one in spirit from the island of 

 Crete, in the Levant, which was obtained and presented to 

 the Museum by Admiral Spratt, who surveyed this island. 

 But of the Aplysinida there are very few specimens indeed, 

 perhaps because the flaccidity of their skeletons, when dry, 

 gives them such a worthless aspect. 



Thinking that Prof. A. Hyatt's " Dendrospongia " might 

 be very nearly allied to DendriUa rosea, if not the same, I 

 sent him the skeleton of a digitated macerated specimen for 

 comparison, and received from him in reply the following, 

 viz., '' Z^enf??-i7/a is quite different from Dendrospongia; the 

 latter never has a trunk of fibres ;" together with a type 

 specimen of the latter confirmative of iiis statement. 



The keratose skeleton of the specimen which I described in 

 1885 (/. c.) is 9 in. high, and of a light brown-amber colour, 

 commencing from a root-like expansion of individual fibres 

 which become gathered together spirally into a sliort stem 

 nearly as broad as it is long, viz. 7-12ths in., which then 

 divides into several long branches that go on dividing 

 and diminishing in size tree-like, without anastomosing, to 

 the ultimate ends of tlie filaments that appear at the circum- 

 ference of the digitations, where the latter often project through 

 the surface, but in their natural state simply elevate into 

 conical points the pink fiesh-like fibro-reticulate dermal sar- 

 code with which they are naturally covered; maintaining 

 throughout such a degree of resiliency, toughness, and flexi- 

 bility that the whole specimen can be squeezed into a large 

 bottle through a narrow neck and taken out repeatedly with- 

 out breaking. 



Besides the specimens of DendriUa rosea there are others in 

 Mr. Wilson's collection from " Port Western " whose skele- 

 tons in structure are quite the reverse, as may be seen from 

 the following description of one which, for distinction sake, 

 may be provisionally termed 



Aplysina ccespitosa. 

 Ceespitose, consisting of a great number of short erect 

 branches interuniting in their course upwards from the base 

 to the circumference, so as to form a hemispherical or convex 

 general mass of a pinkish colour. Surface presenting a soft, 

 fleshy, fibro-reticulation like that of DendriUa rosea. Pore- 

 areas occupying the interstices of the reticulation. Vents scat- 

 tered here and there. Structure sarcodic and fibrous, the former 

 less firm in consistence than that of DendriUa rosea, therefore 

 shrinking up to almost nothing on desiccation ; the latter also 



