204 Mr. H. J. Carter on 



Aplysina lcevis 7 n. sp. 



Specimen smooth, solid, cylindrical, curved, compressed; 

 in form something- like the free end of a large black legumi- 

 nous pod ; free end round, the other truncated or broken off, 

 as if it were the upper portion of a much longer curve. Con- 

 sistence hard. Colour dark black-purple outside, lighter 

 within. Surface smooth, covered with a thick almost 

 leathery dermis charged with sand or foreign microscopic 

 objects ; without conuli saving a slight trace of obtuse eleva- 

 tions, becoming corrugated when dry. Pores scattered plenti- 

 fully over the surface, but closed by contraction, and therefore 

 not easily distinguished. Vents also not seen, from the same 

 cause probably. Fibre stout but scanty, composed of dark 

 amber-coloured keratine cored with the usual grey granulo- 

 flocculent substance, which, on shrinking under desiccation, 

 leaves a hollo wn ess ; but the fibre itself, from its thickness, 

 does not collapse. Sarcode of the parenchyma inspissate, 

 densely charged with foreign microscopic objects like the 

 dermis, traversed by the branches of the excretory canal- 

 systems, which, participating, probably, in the general con- 

 tractile nature of the soft parts, present a small appearance. 

 Size of specimen 3^ in. high by 2 x 1^ in. horizontally. 



Hab. Marine. 



Loc. Port Phillip Heads, South Australia. Depth ? 



Obs. The most striking point about this species of Aplysina 

 is its smooth surface and leathery dark dermis, being without 

 conuli and any projecting filaments of the fibro-skeletal struc- 

 ture ; after which, and perhaps not less remarkable, is the 

 large amount of foreign microscopic material with which the 

 species is charged ; and, lastly, its form, although this may 

 differ in other specimens. The fibre does not collapse on 

 drying, on account of the keratose cylinder being so thick, 

 which, of course, lessens the diameter of the core, and thus 

 makes it as much like the fibre of a Luffaria as that of an 

 Aplysina, which, in other respects, its characters most resemble, 

 and hence its name and location. Liq. potassre at first 

 heightens, and then dissolves out the colouring-matter. 



Fam. 3. Pseudoceratida. 



Pseudoceratina durissima, n. sp. 



Massive, sessile, lobed, somewhat compressed. Consistence 

 solid, intensely hard. Colour, when fresh, " blue-black, 11 

 now black-mulberry. Surface uneven but smooth, consisting 

 of a thin, hard, compact fibrillous dermis spread over low 



