224 Mr. T. Higgin on a new 



by Dr. Oscar Schmidt in 1870, in his work on the Atlantic 

 sponges, as serving to represent a family proper to the Tropical 

 seas — also by Mr. H. J. Carter in 1872, as recorded in his 

 contribution to 'Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist.' vol. x. p. 101 — and 

 has now been adopted by the latter in his " Notes introductory 

 to the Study and Classification of the Spongida," published 

 in the last two issues of this Journal. 



The sponge about to be described is not figured or described 

 by any of the old writers on the Class ; and as no perfect spe- 

 cimen of it exists in the British Museum, Mr. Archer's sponge, 

 which is so well grown and in such good condition, may ad- 

 vantageously be taken as typical of this particular species of 

 Luffaria. The specimen consists of two tubes — a very long- 

 one, which has a flattish basal attachment, and a small one, 

 which grows up from the base of the larger one, possibly 

 from pullulation, most likely, however, from the development 

 of an embryo which had settled at the base of the larger one ; 

 but for present purposes each may be regarded as a zoolo- 

 gical individual. 



Luffaria Archeri, n. sp. (PI. VI.) 



The form of this sponge is that of a tube which gradually 

 increases in width as it increases in length up to its free end, 

 which is somewhat constricted ; while at its small or fixed 

 end there is a strong flange-like growth, which forms the 

 basal attachment : hence its general shape is that of a speaking- 

 trumpet, and suggestive of the long horn used in Switzerland 

 to awaken the mountain-echoes, with which tourists are familiar. 

 The inside of the tube presents a slightly circularly ridged ap- 

 pearance, but is smooth ; the outside is deeply furrowed trans- 

 versely throughout its entire length with sinuosities, which 

 have a depth of § to \ an inch, and a width of 5 to f of an 

 inch. The wall of the tube is of uniform thickness nearly 

 throughout its whole length — that is, from the base to within 

 half an inch or an inch of the free end, when it diminishes up 

 to the rim of the aperture, which has a smooth, well-defined, 

 and rather sharp edge ; the wall generally measures, from the 

 inside of the tube to the tops of the sinuous ridges on the out- 

 side, from 4 to f of an inch, or occasionally f of an inch, and is 

 composed of a close network of rather rigid, clear amber- 

 coloured fibre, which seldom exceeds l-100th of an inch in 

 diameter. The fibre has the opaque, white, granular pith- 

 like core peculiar to the family ; but in this species the granules 

 do not form a lining or crust on the inside of an axial cavity, 

 neither are they closely compacted into a dense column filling 

 up the axis of the fibre ; but the first deposit of hardening 



