110 Mr. H. J. Carter on 



Forcepia colonensis, 1874. (PI. IV. fig. 2, a-e.) 



Specimen massive, irregularly circular and truncate (? cut 

 off by the dredge) at the base, rising into several thick, conical 

 processes above. Consistence firm. Colour, when fresh, 

 " brilliant scarlet," now violet-grey. Surface smooth, 

 wrinkled. Pores in the dermis generally. Vents large, 

 scattered over the upper part, one at the end of each conical 

 process. Internally, dermis thick ; subdermal cavities large, 

 furnished with circular folds which are continued on to the 

 surface of the excretory canals beneath. Parenchyma dense, 

 traversed by the brandies of the excretory canal-systems, 

 which terminate at the vents mentioned. Spicules of two 

 forms, viz. : — 1, skeletal, consisting of a cylindrical more or 

 less undulating, smooth shaft, passing into a globular inflation 

 at each end, which is a little wider than the shaft, 101 by 

 2£-6000ths in. in its greatest dimensions (fig. 2, a) ; 2, flcsh- 

 spicule, consisting of a cylindrical shaft, bent forceps- or 

 hairpin-like, terminating abruptly in round or pointed extre- 

 mities, thickly spined throughout, spines all recurved towards 

 the bend, 22 by l-^-GOOOths in. in its greatest dimensions 

 (fig. 2, b). Both forms plentifully present throughout the 

 structure, the latter most abundant on the surface. There 

 are traces also (in my preparation) of minute equiancho- 

 rates, triradiates, and bihamates (fig. 2, c, d, e), but not suffi- 

 ciently numerous to be characteristic of, if even part of, the 

 spiculation. Size of specimen 3^ in. high by 4 to 4^ in. 

 in diameter at the base. 

 Hab. Marine. 



Loc. Port Phillip Heads, South Australia. Depth 19 fath. 

 Obs. In 1874 (' Annals,' vol. xiv. p. 218, pi. xv. fig. 47) I 

 described and illustrated the flesh-spicule of this species, 

 which was obtained loosely from dredgings near Colon, 

 Panama, and then provisionally proposed the above name 

 for the sponge to which they might have belonged, and 

 which has now been found to exist also, in the form above 

 described, on the south coast of Australia. 



As above stated, there are minute equianchorates, tricur- 

 vates, and bihamates present ; but although such forms charac- 

 terize the spiculation in some of the other species of Forcepia, 

 their existence here is so insignificant, from their scantiness 

 and smallness, that they have not been enumerated in the 

 spiculation. 1 have often noticed that in sponges where there 

 are more than one form of flesh-spicule, the development is 

 very unequal ; that is, that one appears to be greatly increased 

 in size at the expense of the others, which may be the case in 



