THE ANNALS 

 MAGAZINE OF NATUEAL HISTOEY. 



[FIFTH SERIES.] 

 No. 112. APEIL 1887. 



XXXI. — The Relationships of the Porifera. By Dr. G. 

 C. J. VoSMAEE. (Translated by Akthue Dendy, B.Sc, 



F.L.S.*) 



It is now eighteen years since Oscar Schmidt remarked, " A 

 natural system of sponges still awaits its founder ; " and this 

 is still the case. A qui la faute? When Schmidt published 

 his first works on Sponges the subject was certainly in a worse 

 condition than at the present day, and he was the first who 

 earnestly endeavoured to inaugurate a better state of affairs. 

 It is his merit rather to have foreseen than seen many natural 

 relationships, and thereby to have laid the foundation of a 

 natural system. We have, however, already seen in the 

 systematic part of this work that Schmidt's system can, in 

 short, no longer be used. The facts which we owe to more 

 recent methods of research have thrown a somewhat different 

 light upon these matters, and hence I believe that I was right 

 in making several modifications in the system — modifications 

 which I hope are, in part at any rate, at the same time 

 improvements. I have repeatedly pointed out that the system 

 is still far from being a natural one ; but I have as much as 

 possible taken into consideration genealogical questions. 

 Meanwhile the linear arrangement of the group necessarily 



* From Dr. G. C. J. Vosmaer's work on the Porifera in Bronn's 

 'Klassenund Ordnuugen des Thierreichs ' (1887), pp. 472-481. 



Ann & Mag. N. Hist. S^. 5. FoZ. xix. 17 



