78 iMr. II. J. Ciutcr on the Sponges 



bIicII, Avad found to be cliar<^ctl exclusively with s})icuk's 

 exactly like the large ones of Grmjellay viz. smooth, straight, 

 more or less cylindrical, round at one end and pointed at the 

 other, 38-6000tlis inch long, — a trifle, certainly, less in size, 

 but this docs not lessen the significance of the fact. 



To the retiform j)atches of the exterior, charged with the 

 sj)icules just mentioned, maybe added others of a similar kind 

 without spicules, but comjjosed of spherical vesicles and innu- 

 merable small monociliated sponge-cells, not unlike the " am- 

 pullaceous sac " and its ciliated sponge-cells described in my 

 account of the '' Ultimate Structure of Spomjilla " (Annals, 

 scr. 2. vol. XX. p. 22, pi. 1 : 1857). 



To what, then, do these observations lead respecting the point 

 in question V Viz. to the conclusion that Grayella cydtlurphora, 

 OscuUna polystomella, and Clionu northionhricay if not the 

 Clioniada; generally, all belong to the same family. 



In Ch'ona northumhrica we have the fimbriated inhalant 

 area and the single-holed papillary vent almost exactly like 

 those figured of OscuUna jiolystomella (/. c), if we are to re- 

 gard the latter as inhalant and exeurrcnt openings respectively; 

 and as this inference is based u[)on observation of an allied 

 sj)ecies in the living state, it seems to me more likely to be 

 correct than Schmidt's interpretation, from resemblances, of the 

 offices of these parts on a dead one, however well ])reserved in 

 spirit ; that is, that Schmidt has, by his own mistake or that 

 of others, assigned the wrong function t(^ the fimbriated pa- 

 pilUe. Surely that little group of pores placed subordinately 

 by the side of an osculum in the same papilla cannot alone 

 be illustrative of the great inhalant system of the beautiful 

 OscuUna ! 



Again, the })in-like sjiicules of OscuUna can hardly be said 

 to differ from those of the Clioniadiu ; while in the fimbriated 

 ])a})ilhe these are arranged in a radiated direction with their 

 ])oints projecting beyond the sarcode, just as the spicules are 

 in the jiapilla of both CUona northumhrica and Grayella cya- 

 thopliora. Indeed there are many pin-like spicules of the 

 former exactly like those of OscuUna ; and the elavate one, 

 also given by Schmidt in fig. 13, is merely a variety of the 

 nearly straight pin-like sj)icule when found among the latter. 



Then, as regards Grayella^ it is remarkable that the patches 

 of CUvna nurthuinhrica on the outside of the oyster-shell and 

 those of the interior sh(juld almost exclusively be charged re- 

 spectively with the sanu'- kind of smooth straight, and curved 

 spinous spicules which characterize Grayella (Annals, I. c), 

 wiiile the pin-like or larger ones, exclusively of all others, 

 occupy the papillae of CUona and ])roject beyond the sarcode, 

 as the s])icules in both Grayella and OscuUna. 



