Mr. H. J. Carter on a Variety o/Spongilla Meyeni. 247 



or part of a specimen of this species is known to exist in any 

 museum. 



10. Balcena cisai'ctica, the Black Whale of the whalers of 

 the east coast of the United States of America, may be the same 

 as B. nodosa. There is a skeleton in the Museum of the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, Philadelphia ; and it is probably a skeleton 

 of this species that ^' is exposed to all weathers on the roof of 

 the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massa- 

 chusetts." (See Agassiz, Rep. 1864-65.) 



How far the sjoecies indicated range beyond the habitats 

 whence they were received is yet to be discovered and re- 

 corded. No doubt their range is influenced by many local 

 circumstances (peculiarities in the currents, and disposition of 

 the food) that are not easily observed or understood. For 

 example, Capt. Maury observes : — " The Sperm- Whale, ac- 

 cording to the result of this chart, appears never to double 

 the Cape of Good Hope. It doubles Cape Horn. Since this 

 fish delights in warni water, shall we not expect to find off 

 Cape Horn an under-current of warm water heavier with its 

 salt?" (Maury, Whale-Charts, p. 267.) 



XXXII. — On a Variety of Spongilla Meyeni from the 

 Exe, Devonshire. By H. J. Carter, F.R.S. &c. 

 Spongilla Meyeni {Ephydatia, Gray)*, var. Parfitti, Carter. 



Massive, flat, more or less lobed, sessile, spreading. Colour 

 greenish, yellowish. Texture friable. Structure reticulate. 

 Seed-like bodies spheroidal, accumulated towards the base, 

 largest about -^^ inch in diameter. Spicules of skeleton 

 fusiform, slightly arched, acerate, abruptly pointed, largest 

 -^ inch long ; of two kinds, smooth and spinous ; one-third 

 of the largest thickly set with short vertical spines through- 

 out, except towards the points. Spicules of seed-like body 

 birotulate, -g-oVo inch long, more or less sparsely scattered 

 throughout the wall of the seed-like body, wherein they are 

 arranged vertically, with the outer rotule projecting a little 

 beyond the amorphous (siliceous?) substance that chiefly 

 keeps the whole together ; rotules deeply dentate, stellate, 

 wider in diameter than the spicular shaft which unites them; 

 shaft cylindrical, the same size throughout. 



Hab. River Exe, Devonshire ; Salmon-pool Weir, near Exeter. 

 On a beam of wood over which the water falls. In masses 

 attaining a maximum length of 1 foot, with 1;^ inch thick- 

 ness (Mr. Parfitt). 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. May 9, 1867, p. 550. 



