THE ANNALS 

 MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



No. 54. JUNE 1872. 



XLIV. — On two new Sponges from tJie Antarctic Sea, and on 

 a new Sjyecies o/" Tethya /rom Shetland; together with Ob- 

 servations on the Reproduction of Sponges commencing fi-om 

 Zygosis of the Sponge-animal. By H. J. Cartee, F.R.S. 

 &c. 



[Plates XX., XXI., & XXII.] 



Among the sponges preserved in spirit at the British JVIuseum 

 which Dr. J. E. Gray wished me to examine with reference to 

 any thing that might remain untold about them, as well as to 

 their future arrangement there, are two glass jars partly filled 

 with specimens, which, but for the presence of spicules, might 

 very well pass for so much wet brown paper torn into pieces and 

 soaked in sandy mud. Notwithstanding this uninviting aspect, 

 however, they claim attention through bearing respectively the 

 following labels, so far as the writing on them can be now made 

 out, viz. : — 



" Dredged from depth of 300 faths. Lat. 741° g 



Antarctic Exp. Admiralty." And " Dredged in 206 faths. 

 Lat. 77^° S. and long. 175° West. Antarctic Exp. Admi- 

 ralty." 



The fragments in both jars belong to the same species of 

 sponge; and the " locality " being known, there is no doubt 

 that they were dredged up by Captain Sir James Boss during 

 his Antarctic Expedition, which is further proved by the fol- 

 lowing extracts from that illustrious navigator's book entitled 

 '■ A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and 

 Antarctic Regions during the years 1839-43,' viz. : — 



'' Feb. 16th. The lat. at nooii was 75° 6' S., long. 189° 04' W. 

 In the afternoon we hove-to and sounded in 290 fathoms on a 

 bottom of green mud, the temperature at that depth being 32°, 



while that of the surface was 30° The dredge was put 



overboard for a short time, and many curious invertebrate 

 animals and a small fish taken in it " (vol. ii. p. 195). 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser.4. Fo^. ix. 28 



