1IK.X M TINKI.I.IItA. 3 



A 'im.iii~ plx-iiomenon remains to lie noticed. On October 24th, 1903, Lieutenant 

 Armitage's .-.Inl^r party found dried macerated Ilcxactini'llid Sponge and also tufts of 

 spicules I'l-iiiL. 1 " bluwn aliout l.y the wind amongHt the erratics on the ice." The 

 existence of i.-. ,-nt Ilrxactinellid Sponges on the surface of the earth and brought there 

 \)y natural :!_'. nrics is a very unusual occurrence ; for, generally, these Sponges live in 

 too deep \\;it-r i' be cast up by storms. In the present instance, probably the sea 

 bottom was scooped up by ice, and the material afterwards floated up on detached 

 masses of ire. Iloth the specimen and tufts of spicules In-long to a new species, viz., 

 Auloronftlf-i Ar/\ common in shallow water up to '_'0 fathoms. 



ABBKKVIATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS. 



(1) W.M. in. ..-HIM " Winter Quarters." 



(2) A Konmn and an Arabic numeral in brackets mean number of plate and 

 figure ; thus (I. 6) means Plate I., fig. 6. 



('KI)ER HEXACTINELLIDA, F. E. SCHULZK. 



SCB-ORDER HKXASTEROPHORA, F. E. Schulze. 



FAMILY ROSSKLLID.*:, F. E. Schulze. 



SUB-FAMILY ROS.SELLIN.B, F. E. Schulze. 



HYALASCUS, Ijima. 



HYALASCTS HODOSONI. 

 (Plate III. fig. 1, and Plate IV. figs. 1 a-g.) 



Sponge an elongated, slightly flattened oval sac, broadest a little above the base, 

 with an oval orifice with thin, soft, felt-like, unarmed edge. 



Surface with a few small, pointed, tuft-like conuli ; with oxydiartin, and rarely 

 oxypentactin pleuralia. With rounded base provided with short scattered bundles of 

 basalia (probably forming a root-tuft in complete specimens). Gastral membrane 

 continuous (to the naked eye). Autodermalia hexactins, rarely pentactins ; hypodermalia 

 oxypentactins with smooth surface. Gastralia slender hexactins. Intermedia 

 holoxyhexastere,* hemioxyhexasters, rarely monoxyhexastere * ; discohexasters, and 

 microdiscohexastcrs. Colour (in spirit), pale buff; consistence rather soft and flexible, 

 but firm enough for the walls to be self-supporting when out of spirit. 



Description ,ij the .j>fi-nnen. The single specimen representing the new species 

 appears to l>e in an incomplete state, and has probably been denuded of many pleuralia, 



' The term inonoxyhexuter is used for oxvhexastera in which all the secondary or terminal rays are single, 

 hemioxyhexaxter* (Ijima) being osyhexasters in which only one, or some, but not all, of the terminal rays 

 are linglr, and holoxyhexasters oxyhexasten with all the primary ray* ending in more than one terminal ray ; 

 similarly . the terms holodiscobexarter, hemiducohexacter (Scholia), and monodiiwohexacter explain themselvec. 

 Prof. Ijima'B view (4, p. 118, footnote) that the first kind of spieulen, viz., monoxyhexanten, should be designated 

 " hexaoten " and not " hexactins " (Schulze, 9, pp. 8-11) seems to me justifiable. Firstly, the axial canals are 

 confined to the banal portion of each ray (primary ray) and do not extend to the terminal portion (secondary ray). 

 I have examined numerous monoxyhexaHtern and some monodiscohexasters, and by using a 12-inch oil iminention 

 and by adjusting the light, I have invariably found that the axial canal cotnes to an abrupt end not far from the 



VOL. in. 2 II 



