3S2 Mr. T. Hi::;^in on a new IIe.cactincUi<l l:>ponge. 



observations made with the view of establishing^ tliem, and so 

 very nuiterially hclpinii: in the description, he siij;u:osted what 

 appears to be the true solution of the dilheulty. He accounts 

 for the existence of the niatteil mass by finding- that the sponge 

 has been attacked by a J///<v)/--like fungus, which has been 

 gradually destroying the sai'code and eating into the sponge- 

 substance ; and as the sarcode has disappeared, the spicules 

 losing their natural suj)port have fallen together into the 

 matted mass, wliich in this state now covers over much of the 

 upi^er portion of the si)ongc. Although the sj)eclnien is thus 

 rendered imperfect so far as the entirety of the latticework 

 goes, it is nevertheless highly interesting as showing the 

 ravages of the j)ai-asitic fungoid growth, whose mycelium is 

 found in great quantity not only on the surface, but gradually 

 extending into the mass, and spi-eading everywhere its bright 

 little s])orules in extreme abundance. 



Tiie sponge itself, again, is interesting on account of the 

 glass rope being without its usual parasite, viz. the incrusting 

 Polype {Pahjtliod)^ which is still held by a few persons to be 

 a part of the sponge (its "oscula" !), and by some to belong 

 to the glass rope, on which they say the sponge is parasitic — 

 in o]jposition to the more generally received impression, now 

 confirmed by this specimen, that the glass ro])e is the stem or 

 anchoring appendage of the sponge, upon which the Polype is 

 parasitic. 



The twisted stem or glass rope is almost identical with 

 that of Hi/ahnema Sieboldii: the surface of the spicules com- 

 posing it hardly differs except towards the lower part, where 

 the difference is only sufficient to indicate a variety ; while 

 the anchoring head or termination is of the same charactci- — 

 namely, mitre-shajied with four opposite arms. Tiie free ends, 

 however, of these spicules in the .Tapanese si)ecimens are 

 generally broken off; but an example exists in the Liverpool 

 Free Museum (no. 10. 9. 68. 1) in which many of the termi- 

 nations remain ; and Mr. Lam*ence Ilardman, of Kock Ferry, 

 also has a specimen, received last year through his son from 

 the island of Inosima, in which the free ends are in a 

 tolerably perfect condition. In the latter cxam])le these spicules 

 terminate, as in //. cehuense, in four short, bluntly pointed, 

 rounded arms, recurved and opposite, or at right angles to 

 each other, the head and arms being about as broad as long, and 

 measuring 1-1 70th of an inch. In the Liverpool-Frce- 

 Museum specimen, however, the terminations, although of the 

 same character, present modifications of the four opposite 

 arms : that is to say, sometimes four rather shorter arms appear 

 between the four principal arms, making eight arms in all ; 

 sometimes just above the four arms on the smooth shaft are 



