Sponges from South Australia, 375 



washed out, as some specimens are among the waves, would 

 have presented the usual woollj or soft structure of the finest 

 " Turkey sponge." The flabellate specimen is (as I have 

 before stated in many instances) only preparatory to the vase- 

 shaped one, wherein the two sides of the former approxima- 

 ting become united, often, too, leaving a hole at the bottom. 



There is another, but dried, cup-shaped specimen whose 

 surface throughout is covered with a thick coating of sand 

 mixed with the filaments of Spongiophaga communis ; hence it 

 is very hard, and the surfaces (inner and outer) respectively 

 very smooth. It is 4 in. across the brim and 2 in. deep. 



Order IV. KHAPHIDONEMATA. 



Chalina oculata, var. repens^ n. var. 



Eeptant, spreading over both sides of the flat fronds of a 

 black olive Fucus, at least 8 in. long and 2 to 3 in. broad, 

 covered with large circular vents respectively, terminating 

 conical, monticular processes in juxtaposition. Colour light 

 brown. Consistence resilient. Surface even, minutely fibro- 

 reticulate. Pores in the interstices of the fibro-reticulation. 

 Vents numerous, large, and circular, each terminating the 

 summit of a flask-shaped or monticuliform individual which, 

 in conjunction with others of the same kind, form the reptant 

 crust of which the specimen is composed. Structure essen- 

 tially keratose, that is without spicules ; fibre reticulate and 

 short-jointed, smaller on the surface than in the interior, sup- 

 porting a thin sarcode charged with ova in an advanced state 

 of segmentation. No spicules. Size of specimen about 8 in. 

 long (that is, the size of the branches of the Fucus over which 

 it has grown), about 1 in. thick. 



Loc. Port Western. 



Ohs. This variety of Chalina oculata is evidently allied to 

 the " knotty mass or crust-like" form oi Halichondria simu- 

 7ar?s, Johnston (Brit. Spong. 1842, p. 109), whose relations 

 I have noticed in connexion with specimens in the British 

 Museum, being, from the nature of its keratose structure, a 

 Chalina in one place and a Reniera in another (' Annals,' 

 1882, vol. ix. p. 277), to which I must refer the reader for 

 further observations on the subject, as it bears upon the fact 

 to which Schmidt alluded in 1870, viz. the connexion be- 

 tween Chalina and Reneira (Atlantisch. Spongienf. p. 37). 

 It is illustrative of my family no. 3, viz. the " Keptata " (see 

 Classification, ' Annals,' 1875, vol. xvi. p. 141), and is a 

 repent variety of Chalina oculata, as described in the ' Annals' 

 of 1885 (vol. xvi. p. 285) . The absence of spicules is as 



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