Sponges from South Australia. 201 



not only differs from C. nucula, Sdt., in colour, but slightly in 

 spiculation also, as the genuine specimen of C. nucula, Sdt., 

 above mentioned in Mr. Wilson's collection well demon- 

 strates. 



Order II. CERATINA. 

 Fam. 1. Luffarida. 



There are three specimens of Luffaria in Mr. Wilson's 

 collection, of which two are simply digitate and branched, 

 and the other palmodigitate, but all of the same species, 

 which, being new, may be named and described as follows : — 



Luffaria digitata, n. sp. 



Specimen digitate, branched, rising from a short single 

 stem ; digitations solid, simple, cylindrical, long, and branched, 

 or expanded palmately at first, and then subdivided irregularly 

 into smaller branches of unequal size and length afterwards. 

 Consistence loose, soft, in the spirit-preserved specimen. 

 Colour, when fresh, " enamel pink," now pinkish grey. 

 Surface cactiform, consisting of long conuli about \ in. apart, 

 each terminated by a single or bifurcated filament of the 

 skeletal fibre, which makes them look still longer, held toge- 

 ther by an intervening thick, well-marked fibro-reticulated 

 dermis, in which the fibrous part is fleshy and soft, and the 

 whole devoid of any foreign material. Pores in the inter- 

 stices of the reticulation. Vents here and there chiefly situ- 

 ated on projecting processes. Fibrous structure of the interior 

 loose, widely reticulated ; fibre itself composed of a stout 

 cylinder of dark amber-coloured keratine, cored or axiated, as 

 usual, with a grey granulo-flocculent substance ; core less in 

 diameter than the thickness of the keratose wall, producing a 

 corresponding wide and loose parenchyma, of which the 

 sarcordic laminse tympanizing the interstices of the fibro- 

 reticulation are thick, fleshy, soft, and traversed by a reticu- 

 lation of soft fibre like the dermis. Size of specimen 9 in. 

 high by 4x2 horizontally. Palmate expansion of the 

 largest branch 2 in. broad by \ in. thick, shrinking from 

 its loose open structure to a comparatively insignificant size 

 when dried. 



Hub. Marine. 



Loc. Port Phillip Heads, South Australia. Depth 20 fath. 



Obs. The comparative absence of lateral fibre here, the 

 smallness of the core compared witli the thickness of the 

 keratose wall of the fibre generally, the coarse open fibrous reti- 

 culation of the skeleton, and the red fleshy sarcode characterize 



