346 Messrs. S. O. Ridley and A. Dendj on 



Desmacidon conuhsa, n. sp. 



Consisting of a stout peduncle expanding above into broad 

 flattened lobes. Height 3| inch. Greyish yellow. Firm, 

 tough, resilient. Surface conulose. Vents small, scattered 

 over both surfaces. Skeleton, a coarse reticulation of stout fibre 

 with little spongin. Spicules : — (1) stout, fusiform, gradu- 

 ally sharp-pointed acerates, size '7 by '057 millim. ; (2) small 

 palmate equianchorates with large anterior palms, length 

 •032 millim. 



Locality. Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, 10-20 fath. 



Desmacidon (?) ramosa, n. sp. 



Consisting of irregular, vermiform, anastomosing branches 

 about I inch in diameter. Pale greyish yellow. Tough and 

 leathery. Surface minutely hispid, often with a reticulate 

 appearance. Vents scattered, with their margins slightly 

 produced. Skeleton composed of a central axis of spiculo- 

 fibre from which bands of fibre radiate to the surface, 

 beneath which they break up into divergent tufts of spicules, 

 which support the dermal membrane and sometimes project 

 beyond it. Spicules : — (1) sharp-pointed, fusiform acerates, 

 size "6 by "022 millim. ; (2) tridentate equianchorates, the 

 shafts of which ajipear to be extended into slight lateral pro- 

 cesses, length '02 millim. 



Localities. Station 142, south of Cape of Good Hope, 150 

 fath.j off Marion Island, 50-75 fath. 



Subgenus Homceodictya (Ehlers). 



Differing from Desmacidon in the form of the equianchorate 

 spicule. This has a distinct anterior palm, usually slightly 

 curved outwards at tlie free end and always giving off in the 

 median line a backwardly projecting process, which, when 

 viewed laterally, gives to the anterior palm a forked appear- 

 ance. Usually also the shaft of the spicule is laterally ex- 

 panded all the way along *. 



Somoiodictya herguelenensis^ n. sp. 



Lobate or digitate. Light brownish yellow. Soft, spongy, 

 resilient. Surface woolly-looking and minutely hispid. Vents 

 small and scattered. Skeleton very loose and ill-defined. 

 Spicules: — (1) short, stout, sharp-pointed acerates, size '35 by 

 •0189 millim.; (2) palmate equianchorates of the typical 



* For an excellent figure of this spicide vide Carter, Ami. & Mag-. Nat. 

 Hist. 1882, vol. X. p. Ill, fig. 1, a,h. * d 



