Dr. J. E. Gray on Euplectella speciosa. 487 



LXIV. — Venus' s Flower-basket (Euplectella speciosa). 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. 



The British Museum has lately received a very beautiful speci- 

 men of this interesting siliceous Sponge. There are several 

 other specimens in London; they were obtained from the Phi- 

 lippine Islands. The specimens are subcylindrical, varying a 

 little in the extent to which they are dilated upwards, and in 

 the width of the fringe round the upper aperture of the tube ; 

 they are all more or less curved on one side near the base. The 

 base is evidently attached to some marine body, perhaps small 

 shingle, as it is more or less dilated into a swollen oblong bag, 

 formed of interwoven siliceous spicula, similar to but closer 

 together than the longitudinal spicula of the body of the vase : 

 this bag encloses a number of fragments of shells, small stones, 

 and some sand; and in the fresh specimens it may be an ex- 

 panded base attached to the mud and sand. The broad end of 

 the tube is covered with a reticulated convex lid, which is also 

 to be found in a sponge from Malacca, described by me under 

 the name oi Aphrocallistes Beatrix (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 115, 

 1. 11). 



Like all showy and beautiful natural productions, it has had 

 many describers ; and there is a confusion in its history which, 

 it is to be hoped, is not shared by that of many others. 



This sponge was first described and figured, in 1833, by 

 MM. Quoy and Gaimard, in the ' Voyage of the Astrolabe,^ p. 303, 

 Zoophytes, t. 26. f. 3, under the name of Alcyoncellum speciosum, 

 from a very imperfect specimen which had lost the netted lid, 

 the fringes on the outside, and a considerable portion of the 

 smaller, lower end of the tubes. It was given to the travellers 

 by M. Merkus, the Governor of Molucca. They observe : " Eil 

 voyant Pelegante blancheur et la regularite d^un tel tissu on a 

 de la peine k se persuader, qu'il est le produit d'une reunion 

 d'animaux. On aime mieux en voir un seul au fond de la mer 

 travailler k se faire ce logement pour un but quelconque, en 

 tirant de sa propre substance, comme le font certaines chenilles, 

 la matiere qui se petrifie aussitot qu'elle est en contact aveo 

 Peau" (p.303). 



There can be no doubt of the imperfect state of this sponge, 

 from a comparison with a worn and crushed specimen in the 

 British Museum, that was obtained by Capt. Sir Edward Belcher, 

 and purchased at the sale of his shells. 



MM. Quoy and Gaimard refer the sponge to the genus Alcyon- 

 cellum of De Blainville, and quote at length the generic charac- 

 ter given by that author. A very cursory reading of that character 

 shows how little it fits their specimen ; and it is very difficult 



