Dr. J. E. Gray on Sponges. 161 
METV — Observations on Sponges and on their Arrangement 
and Nomenclature. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., 
F.L.S., &e. | : 
I READ before the Zoological Society, in May last, some Notes 
on Sponges, in which I gave a Synopsis of the different 
arrangements that had been proposed for Sponges, and sug- 
ested a new one by which I hope that any one who will col- 
ect together the spicules of any specimen of sponge will be 
able at once to determine the order and family and also the 
genus to which it belongs. | 
_As the proposed system contained many innovations, it has 
produced some discussion and opposition, which was to be ex= 
pected. In the following observations I have attempted to 
meet the objections that have been made by various persons. 
As these persons generally take Dr. Bowerbank’s ‘ British 
Sponges’ as their text, I fear my observations will appear as if 
chiefly directed against that work. They are made, however, 
in the cause of science and in the hope of rendering the struc- 
ture and arrangement of Sponges better understood, and not 
in the least from any ill feeling towards the author, for whom 
I have great personal regard. | 
Until the publication of Dr. Bowerbank’s Essay in the 
‘Philosophical Transactions’ and Dr. Oscar Schmidt’s work 
on the Sponges of the Adriatic, no attempt was made to ar- 
range Sponges into genera based on their structure and or- 
anization, or to arrange the genera into natural groups. 
owerbank’s series of papers commenced in 1858; but the 
systematic part of these works appeared nearly simultaneously 
in the year 1862. 
_ Nardo, it is true, studied the Sponges of the Adriatic, and 
some years before proposed an arrangement of them; but he 
never published any characters for the genera or species which 
he names; and his names are only known by prescription or 
to those who may have received specimens named by him. 
Dr. O. Schmidt uses some of Nardo’s generic names, giving 
characters to them, and in some cases evidently restricting their 
significance. Such genera can only date from their publica- 
tion in Dr. O. Schmidt’s work—that is, from 1862. 
One of the most careful and intelligent students of the lower 
animals in this country, whose name often appears in the 
_ ‘British Sponges’ (not observing that Dr. Bowerbank’s and Dr. 
_ Q. Schmidt’s works on the genera of Sponges were published 
_ simultaneously in 1862), speaking of Dr.O.Schmidt’s work, ob- 
serves :—‘‘ Bowerbank, in the most extraordinary fashion, has 
completely ignored everything that has been written on the 
