EEPORT ON THE RADIOLA.RIA. 169 



4. Staurodoras wandae, Dunikowski. 



Staurodoras wandae, Dunikowski, 1882, Denkschr. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, Bd. xlv. p. 28, 

 Tat v. fig. 58. 



Four crossed spines shorter than the radius of the spongy sphere, conical. (May be the young 

 form of the preceding species.) 



Dimensions. Diameter of the sphere 014 ; length of the spines 0'06, basal breadth 0'05. 

 Habitat. Fossil in the Alpine Lias (Schafberg near Salzburg). 



Family IX. CUBOSPH^EIDA, Haeckel (Pis. 21-25). 



Cubospltcerida, Haeckel, 1881, Prodromus, p. 449. 



Definition. S phaeroidea with six radial spines on the surface of the spherical 

 shell, opposite in pairs in the three dimensive axes, perpendicular one to another ; living 

 solitary (not associated in colonies). 



The family Cubosphserida is distinguished from the other Sphseroidea by 

 the possession of six radial spines, which are opposite in pairs in three different axes, 

 one perpendicular to the other two. These three axes are the typical " dimensive axes," 

 which are more or less differentiated in the Larcoidea. But in these latter the shell 

 itself and the enclosed central capsule become affected by the unequal growth in the 

 three axes, whilst in the former the capsule constantly, and commonly also the shell, 

 remains spherical. Sometimes the shell assumes the form of a regular octahedron, from 

 the six corners of which arise the six radial spines, indicating its three axes. 



The most simple Cubosphserida are the Hexastylida, with one single, spherical lattice- 

 shell. To this ancestral group all other subfamilies can be opposed as " Cubosphserida 

 concentrica," as their carapace is composed of two or more concentric lattice-shells two 

 in the Hexalonchida, three in the Hexacontida, four in the Hexacromyida, five or more in 

 the Hexacaryida. In all these four subfamilies the concentric shells are simple (not 

 spongy), fenestrated spheres. In a sixth subfamily, in the Hexadorida, the shell is 

 wholly or partially composed of irregular, spongy wicker-work or loose reticulations, 

 with or without a medullary shell in the centre. 



The Six Radial Spines of the Cubosphaerida are normally opposite in pairs in the 

 three dimensive axes, each of which is perpendicular to the other two. But in many 

 species besides this normal form occur individual abnormalities, in which the six spines are 

 not quite accurately opposed, but more or less divergent ; and often also the three dimensive 

 planes (determined each by two axes) are" not quite regular, but more or less uneven. 

 More rarely the six spines appear disposed in quite an irregular manner. 



In the greater part of the Cubosphserida all six spines are quite equal, of the same size 

 and form. But in some genera a more or less considerable differentiation takes place, so 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. PART XL. 1885.) Rr 22 



