452 Mr. H. J. Carter 07i 



satisfactorily with a microscopic power of less than 300 

 diameters ; while the skeletal spicule is chieflj confined to the 

 spiculo-fibre, the flesh-spicule is very abundant everywhere, 

 and at first so much presents the appearance of a minute 

 bihamate, from the minuteness of the flukes and their lateral 

 expansion, that without microscopical examination it mi^-ht 

 easily pass for one. Size of specimen 2^ in. high by 2x 1^ 

 in. horizontally. 



Loc. Port Western. 



Ol)s. This anomalous species, characterized by the stclli- 

 dermatous structure and its spiculation, especially the form of 

 the equianchorate, I shall also provisionally place among the 

 HaUchondria'j to which it appears to me to be most nearly 

 allied. In the mounted specimen I see a single bihamate of the 

 conmion form about 7^-6000ths in. long, that is much larger 

 than the anchorate, and the skeletal spicule looks very much 

 like the " tibiella " of a HalicJiondria ; but here, again, I could 

 find no skeletal acuate, and the bihamate mio'ht not belong 

 to tlie spiculation. 



Tliere is a certain amount of resemblance between this 

 species and that which will presently be described under the 

 name oi '"'' Pseudolialicliondria clavilohata \'''' but there is no 

 sand-fibre, although much foreign material is dispersed through 

 the sarcode, while the dermal structure is closely analogous, 

 each species being covered with conical eminences, through 

 which a filament ^f the skeletal structure protrudes, although 

 this of course is different in composition, being spiculiferoua 

 in one and areniferous in the other. 



Histioderma verrucosum, n. sp. 



Specimen flat or slightly convex, growing over agglomerated 

 sand, presenting a great number of wart-like appendages on 

 the surface. Colour grey when fresh. Sm-face even, smooth, 

 interrupted only by the wart-like appendages, which consist 

 of small, hollow, ficoid bodies scattered irregularly over it, 

 each consisting of a constricted neck, which is in continuation 

 with the histiodermal surface, and an inflated portion or head, 

 which is composed of hollow, thin, reticulated, clathrous struc- 

 ture, the whole averaging about 3-1 2ths in. long by l-12th in. 

 in its greatest transverse diameter. Pores in the interstices 

 of the reticulated structure of the head. Vents opening below, 

 not well seen. Structure consisting of a flat basal or body-mnss 

 of sarcode and spicules covered with a compact, thick, textile, 

 dermal layer, from which the wart-like appendages are pro- 

 longed ; appendages opening into the subdermal cavities and 

 through them again into large canals entering into the body- 



