3}X> Mr. 11. .1. Carter on Haliphyf»ema ramulosa, 



definitively showii to be no more a sponge than tlie simple or 

 nnbranclieil form, and will probably prove hereafter to be no- 

 thint,^ more than a branched form of Sqiianntlina scopula^ as 

 I at first suggested. 



Although Prof. Schmidt had introduced the two species, and 

 the figure of H. Tumaiioiciczii, in his excellent work on the 

 Adriatic Sponges, on the authority of Dr. Bowerbank, it is 

 not only fair to observe, but equally significant, that it will not 

 be found in Dr. Gray's proposed " Arrangement of Sponges " 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. May 9, 1867). Dr. Gray doubted its asserted 

 nature. 



In the second instance, I have been provided by Dr. Car- 

 penter with specimens of PoJytrema, both sini])Ie and " arbores- 

 cent," together wnth portions of the spiculiferous structm-e 

 accompanying them, chiefly for examination of the latter; and 

 the result of this I have found to be that, although Pohjtrema 

 widely differs from Squamidina scojnda and S. varians in its 

 foraminiferous characters, still the heterogeneous mixture of 

 sponge-spicules which enters more or less into the composition 

 of their tests respectively appears to me to be the same. 



While, however, the basis of the test in S. scojnda and S. 

 varians consists of an agglomeration of siliceous sand, that of 

 Polytrema consists of calcareous matter secreted by the animal 

 itself ; and so far the basis-material of the tests differs ; but 

 sponge-spicules are alike present in that of Polytrema^ as 

 Schultze has already stated (aj). Prof. Allman, la.'^t No. of 

 ' Annals,' p. 373), and in that of Squamidina scojyula S:c. 



The spicules differ, of course, with the kinds of s])onges 

 growing in the locality from which they are suj^plied ; and 

 hence we do not expect to find exactly the same kinds of spi- 

 cules in the Haliphysema from the Gulf of Florida that wc 

 find in Squamidina scojnda of the British coasts ; nor do we 

 expect to find the same kinds of spicules in the s})ecimens of 

 Polytrema which were brought from the tropics by Mr. Denis 

 Macdonald to Dr. Carpenter. 



Thus in specimens of the spiculiferous structure taken from 

 the latter, I have observed the pin-like, spinous, and sinuous 

 spicules of Cliona northumbrica, fragments of the heads and 

 shafts of very large trifid spicules of a Geodia (?), together with 

 a very prepcuiderating number of the minnte stellate s])icules, 

 and a few large ones like those of Tetliea lyncurinm^ a 

 " dichotomo-patento-ternate " spicule of Dactyhcalyx lioicer- 

 bankiijjust like that figured in plate 2. fig. 53 of Bowerbank's 

 ' Brit. Sponges,' and many other kinds, mixed together, but 

 too numerous to mention individually. 



In the fragments of spiculiferous structure given me for 



