Mr. H. J. Carter on Parasites of the Spongida. 159 



the Antilles and the Caribbean Sea, gathered by them- 

 selves alive and dead in these localities before the year 

 1864 (" Spougiaires de la Mer Caraibe, par P. Duchass. de 

 Fontbressin etG. Michelotti," Natuui-k. Holland. Maat. Wet. 

 te Harlem, 1864, vol. xxi. 4to). 



The character of these polyps is to have their sclerodermic 

 parts more or less charged with foreign bodies, viz. grains of 

 sand and sponge-spicules entire and fragmentary, derived from 

 the sponges of the locality generally, but chiefly from the 

 sponge on which they may be situated. I can, of course, state 

 nothing of the softer parts in their original condition, as my 

 descriptions are taken from dried specimens ; hence this infor- 

 mation must be sought from other sources. 



1 . Polyps single or isolated, scattered over the surface more 

 or less generally, sunk to the level of the sponge, hut marginated; 

 about 1-16 inch in diameter. 



Especially observed in the genus Tuba, Duchass. de F. et 

 Mich. {op. cit., e. g. T. digitalis, pi. viii. f. 2), Rhaphido- 

 nemata, fara. Cavochalinida, groups 6-8, Cart. (" Notes In- 

 troductory to the Study of the Spongida," ' Annals,' vol. xvi. 

 p. 141) = Siphonochalina, Sdt. ; also in Reniera fbulata, Sdt. 

 (Holorhaphidota, group 5. Fibulifera, Cart. op. cit. p. 178), 

 from the seas between the Americas ; also in Axinella poly- 

 poides, Sdt., from the Adriatic sea (Schmidt, Spong. Adriat. 

 Meeres, Taf. vi. f. 4). 



2. Polyps single or concatenated, scattered over the surface 

 more or less generally, sunk to the level of the sponge, but mar- 

 ginated ; about the same size as the foregoing. 



See especially the genus Thalysias, D. de F. et M. [op. cit.) , 

 Holorhaphidota, group 3. Thalyosa, Cart. [I. c). For a good 

 figure see Isodictya mirabilis, Bk. (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 

 1873, pi. xxviii. figs. 1, 6, S) ,= Thalysias subtriangularis, D. 

 de F. et M., 1864 {op. cit. pi. xvii. lig. 1), from the seas 

 between the Americas. The name used by Dr. Bowerbank 

 must be suppressed, as it was given long after that of D. de 

 F. et M. ; and that of " inhalant pocilla " applied by him to 

 the polyps is a mistake, carried on from his description and 

 figure of 1864 (Mon. Brit. Spong. vol. i. p. 278, pi. xx. f. 308) . 

 The description, however, faithfully illustrated by his artist 

 Lens Aldous, records all that is necessary respecting the dried 

 form of the polyp. 



Should instances of circumscribed inhalant caliciform or 

 tentaculiform arese in sponges be desired, they may be found 

 in Grayella cyathophora and Cliona corallinoides respectively, 



