On Deep-sea Sponges from the Atlantic Ocean. 307 



Astacotdeji * are lari^c and few in number ; ami the young 

 imderii^o no nietaniorpho.sU after quitting the egg. A large 

 female oi' A. sfacauhs zedlandicits has but 380 eggs, measuring 

 2J X 2^ milbins., under the tail ; and these are attached to the 

 appendages in the manner described by Lereboullet (in Ann. 

 des Sc. Xat. s6r. 4, vol. xiv. 1860) for Aslacus fluviatilis. 



XX VII. — Descriptions and Figures of Deep- Sea Sponges and 

 their Spicules, from thr Athmtic Ocean^ dredged up on board 

 H.M.S. ^Porcupine,' chiefy in 18G9 {concluded). ]3y 11. J. 

 Caktek, F.K.S. &c. 



[Continued from p. 240.] 



Ilt/mcraphia vermiculata, Bk., van erecta, n. sj). (PI. XII. 

 fig. 4, and i'l. XV. fig. 26, a, h.) 



General form short, cylindrical, angular, club-shaped, be- 

 coming massive, lobed and lubulated, or compressed and ex- 

 panding rtabellately. Colour now yellowish white. Surface 

 hirsute, even, reticulo-pitted, more or less furrowed ; dermal 

 structure reticulate. Pores in the sarcode tympanizing the 

 interstices of the dermal reticulation. Vents scattered here 

 and there on the surface. Internal structure consisting of 

 fasciculi branching and subdividing obliquely from a central 

 axis amidst the sarcode, which again is traversed by the 

 branches of the excretory canal-system, that terminate for the 

 most part in the furrows of the surface, which in their naturaj 

 state are converted into canals by the dermal sarcode. Colour 

 internally tlie same as that of the surface, or perhaps a little 

 deeper. Spicules of one kind only, viz. skeleton- ; no flcsh- 

 spicules. Skelcton-spicules of two forms, viz. : — 1, very large, 

 long and acuate, smooth, sharp-pointed, slightly curved to- 

 wards the fixed end, whicli is the widest part of the spicule, 

 but not inflated, 100- by 3i-1800ths inch (PI. XV. fig. 26, a) ; 

 2, subskeleton-, a much smaller spicule, vermiculate, acerate, 

 acuate, or cylindrical and obtuse at the ends, 45- by l-18()0th 

 inch (Hg. 26, h). The large acuates at their fixed eiuis are 

 imbedded in a mass of interwoven vermiculatcs, which thus 

 form fasciculi round them (PI. XII. fig. 4, «, h), while their 



• Ast (ironies, fnierin, Revue Zool. 183i>jp. 109; Paranephropa, White, 

 in (inn's Zool. Mi^^c. 1842, p. 78, and Dieffenbach's ' New Zealand,' 1843, 

 ii. p. 2<;7. 



