Mr. PI. J. Carter on the Sarcohexactinellid Sponges, 279 



claviformis ^ J Grray, and Ilyalonema {Carteria, Gray), where 

 the cavity is very narrow and contracted in the former, and in 

 the latter is Occupied by the conical end of the glass cord, 

 which actually passes through the entire sponge so as to 

 project beyond its summit, the " vents " are, respectively, 

 partially and entirely on the outside ; indeed in Ilyalonema 

 there is no concavity. What the condition may be in the 

 great Askonema seticbaletise, Kent, I do not know, not having 

 any thing but a shred of this sponge, sent to me by my kind 

 friend Dr. J. E. Gray, from a portion which was brought 

 from Lisbon to England by Mr. Kent. Where the great 

 specimen of Askonema, about a yard wide at the mouth and 

 twenty-four inches high, may be, which was dredged up off 

 Cape St. Vincent while Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys superintended 

 the operations on board H.M.S. ' Porcupine ' in 1870 

 (' Depths of the Sea,' by Prof. W. Thomson, p. 428, fig. 67), 

 I am ignorant. It is not with me ; and therefore I am not 

 answerable for its description. 



Still, as regards the vents of Laharia, it might be observed 

 that if there is no appearance of them in the cup, it is 

 not improbable that the holes on the convexity may have 

 been artificially made. Again, it may be stated that the 

 intervals between the arms of the nail-like spicules of the 

 surface in the convexity are so large, and the short plumose 

 ends of the surface- spicules so inadequate to close them, that 

 some of these interspaces may have served for vents. But the 

 absence of sarcode throughout this sponge, from the cause 

 hereafter to be mentioned, fails to supply that roundness to its 

 openings which otherwise would make the vents unmista- 

 kable. 



As regards, again, tlie "pores" of Laharia, analogy here 

 leads to the inference that they existed in the interstices of the 

 reticulation formed on tlie surface by the arms of the surface- 

 spicules, as above stated. 



We now come to the specific characters of this sponge ; and 

 these rest chiefly on the form of the double hook at the end of 

 the smooth, long, anchoring-spicule of the base, and on the 

 spiniferous condition of the arms of the minute surface-spicule 

 No. 3. Fortunately there is no doubt about the latter ; for in 

 Hyalonema, Holtenia, and Pheronema, Gray, Avith which these 

 sj)icules might otherwise be confounded, the arms are smooth 

 and not spiniferous. Even in Meyerina, also, they arc so 

 scantily spined that they might be almost termed smooth. 



But the case is not so clear with respect to the double hook at 



* For a description of Mi-]ferina daviformis and Cratcrnmorpha Meyeri, 

 see * Annals," vol. x. p. 110 (August 1H72). 



