known Species of Spongilla. 93 



Spongilla Meyeni^ Carter. 



Spongilla Met/eni, Carter, No. 12, p. 84 ; and No. 20, p. 10, pi. xxxviii. 



fig. 4. 



Log. Bombay. 



Spongilla fluviatilis J var. Parjitti^ Carter. 



Spongilla Jluviatilis, var. Parjifti, Carter, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, 

 vol. i. p. 247 ; and Bowerbank, 1870, No. '25, p. 298, pi. Ixxxvi. 

 figs. 5-14. 



Loc. River Exe, Devonsliire. 



Obs. Having specimens of all three of these sponges now 

 before me, I cannot help thinking that the occasional diffe- 

 rences of spiculation in one may be seen in the other, and 

 therefore that S. Mei/e7it and S.jiuviatilis, var. Parjitti axe mere 

 varieties of S. Jfuviatilts =3Iegema Jluviatilis, nobis. Of the 

 two specimens of S.Jluviatilis,YSiY. Parjitti, that I have mounted, 

 nearly all the skeleton-spicules in one are smooth, and nearly 

 all those in the other are spiniferous, which shows what an 

 admixture of these two kinds of spicules may exist in Meyenia 

 jluviatilis. It is convenient here to allude to 



Spongilla sceptrifera, Bk. 

 Spongilla sceptifera, Bk., No. 25, p. .300, pi. Ixxxvi. figs. 15-17. 



Loc. Reservoir, Exeter. 



Ohs. This pretended new species is no " new species " at 

 all, but probably S. jluviatilis, as the statoblast would have 

 proved if any had been present j for S. jluviatilis grows abun- 

 dantly in the same locality, and the characteristic spicule re- 

 presented by Dr. Bowerbank (/. c. fig. 17) is nothing more 

 than a detached frustule of the diatom Asterionella, like A. 

 formosa (Pritchard's Infusoria, ed. 1861, pi. iv. fig. 17), 

 which, in its entirety (that is, with the frustules arranged in a 

 radiated ring) as well as separated, abounds on the surface 

 of the type specimen (which was kindly given to me by Mr. 

 E. Parfitt, of Exeter), but not in the interior. It at once ap- 

 peared to me that such a form of spicule could not belong to 

 any species of Sjpongilla ; and, indeed, I have never seen any 

 thing identifiable with it either in the freshwater or marine 

 sponges. Mr. Parfitt found the specimen, and sent part of it 

 to Dr. Bowerbank, who immediately seized upon it as a new 

 species of Spongilla. 



5. Meyenia Capewelli. 

 Spongilla Capewelli, Bk., No. 20, p. 9, pi. xxxviii. fig. 3. 

 Massive, sessile. Surface even, lobular. Structure friable, 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. vii. 8 



