the Genus Tragosia, Gray. 171 
he has made use of the name 7rayosia on several occasions, 
has not, so far as I am aware, done anything to extend our 
knowledge in this direction. We may’ safely say that 
hitherto the genus Tragosia has remained very badly charac- 
terized, and one can hardly be surprised that Carter [1876] 
completely ignored it and referred Bowerbank’s Jsodictya 
infundibuliformis to Phakellia; indeed, he seems to have 
actually confused the species with Phakellia ventilabrum. 
We come now to the chief object of this note, which is to 
call attention to a hitherto-unnoticed element in the spicu- 
lation of Tragosia infundibuliformis, by the aid of which the 
confusion between Tragosia and Phakellia can at once be 
avoided and the genus placed upon a more satisfactory 
footing. 
Some years ago I received from Sir W. A. Herdman three 
beautiful specimens of Tragosia infundibuliformis collected 
in the Minch and preserved in alcohol. The external form 
of these specimens is thoroughly typical and, taken in con- 
junction with the locality, left little doubt as to the identi- 
fication. In order to make quite sure, however, I recently 
examined the spiculation of one of the specimens, and was 
much surprised to find numerous microscleres in the form 
of trichodragmata. 
Before coming to the conclusion that trichodragmata 
really form a normal constituent of the spiculation, it was 
necessary to make a re-examination of specimens actually 
referred to the species in question by the older writers. In 
the first place, I found in Mr. Carter’s cabinet a slide 
labelled “ Halichondria infundibuliformis. Johnst. B. M. 
Shetland”, which is evidently a preparation of Tragosia 
infundibuliformis, and which contains trichodragmata quite 
unmistakably. Unfortunately the same slide is also labelled, 
at the other end, “ Type specimen Phakellia robusta, Bk.” 
Two other slides, both labelled “ Phakellia infundibularis ” 
and “ Deep Sea,’ are evidently from the ‘ Porcupine’ 
collection, but they represent two distinct species. The 
one has trichodragmata and may be safely identified as 
Tragosia infundibuliformis; the other has no trichodragmata 
(so far as I can see) and much larger megascleres, and is 
probably referable to Phakellia ventilabrum. It is evident 
from what Mr. Carter says about these species in his paper 
on the ‘ Porcupine’ Sponges [ 1876, pp. 239, 240], taken in 
conjunction with his preparations, that he failed to dis- 
tinguish the one from the other. 
There are in the Natural History Department of the 
British Museum a number of dry specimens undoubtedly 
