Rev. A. M. Norman on the Genus Haliphysema. 277 
any rudiment of terminal branches, each springing from a 
small circular basal patch. Although in so young a condition, 
they were identical in structure with the type specimen repre- 
sented in pl. xiii. fig. 1, vol. iii., Mon. Brit. Spongiade.” 
I quote this as confirming my own opinion respecting the 
unbranched young of H. ramulosum. 
On the other hand, the largest specimen I have seen is one 
for which I am indebted to Mr. Carter, who found it at Bud- 
leigh-Salterton. It is 7 millims. high, of which 5 millims. is 
occupied by the slender unbranched stem, nearly another 
millim. is taken up by the first fork ; and in the last millim. of 
length the branches divide and subdivide, extending themselves 
in all directions, and terminating ultimately in sixteen branch- 
lets with their terminal heads. 
3. Haliphysema echinoides, Haeckel. 
sa Haliphysema echinoides, Haeckel, Biologische Studien, p. 186, 
pl. X. 
“ Body of person round or subspherical, attached by a long 
and slender pedicel. Pedicel cylindrical, conically widened 
above, solid, 2-3 times as long, but scarcely 3 as wide as the 
diameter of the ball. Body-cavity round or subconical. Mouth- 
opening widening into a somewhat funnel-shaped form. Ex- 
traneous bodies, which incrust the exoderm of the pedicel, 
consisting of sand-grains and longitudinally arranged sponge- 
spicules ; extraneous material of the ball-shaped body consist- 
ing of spicules of various sponges, which stand out on all 
sides, chiefly, however, radiating from and covering the mid- 
dle of the body ” (Haeckel). 
There is but little in the above description to distinguish 
this from the last-described species, to the young unbranched 
stage of which it bears avery close resemblance. I, however, 
keep it apart, because the ball is represented as much larger 
in proportion to the pedicel than I have ever seen it to be in 
H. ramulosum ; and the character of the spicules employed 
seems to show that it is a deep-sea species, whereas H. ramu- 
losum lives in shallow water. When Haeckel’s species is 
better known, it may prove to be more distinct than it now 
appears. Moreover the large size of the ball, as compared 
with the axial column, will be seen to present difficulties in 
the way of the longitudinal fission of the heads and their con- 
version into branches, which I regard as so important a feature 
in the evolution of the colony of HZ. ramuloswm. 
Hab. Atlantic Ocean (Koren fide Haeckel), 
It is surprising that Haeckel should have thought that 
there was any relation between the animal he described as 
