272 Mr. H. J. Carter on some West-Indian 



Hah. Marine. Growing npon hard objects. 



Loc. Nassau. 



Ohs, The same remarks with reference to classification 

 apply to this as to the last species^ from which it ditfers 

 chieflj in being much more rigid, colourless, and ornamented 

 on the surface, especially towards the lower part, with a much 

 more beautiful development of the star-like structure, in 

 which the terminal knots of the internal fibre become abso- 

 lutely conoidal from their prominence. 



A'plysina [Spongia^ de F. et M.) fe nest rata. 



Massive, sessile, lobate, hollow ; lobes erect, amorphous or 

 conical. Tissue flexible, resilient. Colour black, becoming 

 brown where waterworn. Surface polygonally reticulated, 

 tympanized with black glistening sarcode in the interstices, 

 wliich are bordered by projections of the subdermal fibre. 

 Vents large, on the prominent parts of the body. Internally 

 fibrous, elastic, columnar, like that of honeycomb, irregularly 

 prismatic, about half an inch thick, forming a perpendicular 

 structure between the surface and the internal cavities, whose 

 shape is therefore more or less indicated by the form of the 

 mass externally. Fibre stiff, flexible, of a deep amber-colour, 

 cored indistinctly with a granular axis, void of all foreign 

 objects ; forming a reticulated line in each angle of tlie pris- 

 matic structure, interunited by transverse fllaments, which 

 terminate on the surface in the way mentioned. Size of 

 largest specimen about 6x4x2 inches. 



Hab. J\Iarine. 



Loc. Long Key Island, Nassau. 



Ohs. With kerasine flexible flbre void of all foreign objects 

 in the core, which is indistinctly granular, we have no other 

 order for the reception of this species but the Ceratina and the 

 family Aplysinida ; still, having evidently been described and 

 figured by de F. et M. under the name of '■^ Spongia fenestrata'''' 

 (p. 36, pi. iii. fig. 7), their specific although not their generic 

 name has been retained. British Museum, Nos. 179 and 484. 



Order III. PSx\MMONEMATA. 

 Family 1. Bibulida. 



Spongia officinalis auctt. 



Massive, sessile, globular, or lobed; lobes erect, conoid, 

 each terminating in a large oscule. Texture resilient, 

 firm. Colour purple-black above, becoming colourless below. 



