Sponges from South Australia. 45 



I had forgotten to allude to that remarkable sponge of which 

 Mr. G. Clifton found branched specimens " over 6 feet in 

 length, and when alive of a bright red colour," on the west 

 coast of Australia, for which the late Dr. J. E. Gray proposed 

 the generic name " Axos ;" and which, with its allies, I should 

 be inclined to place immediately after Donatina, under the name 

 of " Axoshia " (' Annals,' 1879, vol. iii. p. 284 &c. pi. xv. ); 

 substituting the latter term for " Axona," proposed in the 

 ' Annals ' for 1881 (p. 381) ; where, I would also observe 

 en jmssant, the species respectively described thereafter 

 under the names of Axos anchorata and A. flahellata should 

 have their generic appellations respectively changed to 

 " Phorbas,^^ D. & M., and their position relegated to the 

 group Halichondrina still among the Holorhaphidota, for the 

 reasons mentioned in my paper on the West-Indian sponges 

 ('Annals,' 1882, vol. ix. p. 288). 



The group " Axosina " might therefore be inserted imme- 

 diately after Donatina, as the structural alliances to which I 

 have above alluded, and which will be found at p. 289 

 ('Annals,' 1879, vol. iii.), seem to indicate. 



Lastly, I find a new structure among Mr. Wilson's sponges, 

 which assumes a more or less globular form ; but this is without 

 Jibre jand the sarcode, which is chondroid, as much charged with 

 sand grains as it is with the spicules of the species, which 

 are cylindrical and obtusely pointed, accompanied by a smaller 

 one in the form of an acuate ; so that it is questionable 

 whether it should come under the second family of the order 

 Carnosa, viz. the Gumminida, or under the Suberitida in the 

 order Holorhaphidota, as hinted of the group Donatina in my 

 paper on the then known species of Carnosa (' Annals,' 1881, 

 vol. viii. p. 255, &c.). At all events, for the present, I shall 

 insert it as a new group, with the name of " Chondropsina," 

 immediately after " Placospongina " at the end of the family 

 Suberitida, while the type-specimen under the name of 

 Chrondopsi's aremfera, will be more particularly described 

 hereafter among Mr. Wilson's specimens. In the dried state 

 the abundance of sand and its want of fibre, that is, its diffused 

 arrangement, makes this specimen look like one of the genus 

 Sarcocornea ('Annals,' 1885, vol. xv. p. 214 &c.). But the 

 spiculation being all of one kind and the spicules perfect, is 

 opposed to this. 



Ecccelonida, or Excavatincj Sponges (new family, No. 3, p. 49). 



Char. Sponges living in small chambers stoloniferously 

 connected, which have been excavated by themselves or other 



