346 Mr. H. J. Carter's Contributions to our 



Taf. iii. fig. 27, and Taf. iv. fig. 6) the spiculation appears 

 to be much the same, as evidenced not only by his illustra- 

 tions, but by the type specimen in the British Museum ; 

 hence it appears to be closely allied to Pachymatisma. 



But all the specimens of Geodina which have been described 

 and illustrated will, even after having been placed in the 

 above divisions, be found to be so much alike that the whole 

 jroup requires to be carefully examined individually as well 

 as collectively, before the little differences which they present 

 specifically can be rightly appreciated for final arrangement. 

 What these " differences " amount to I am unable to suggest, 

 further than that the stellates and other forms of minute flesh- 

 spicules, which often accompany the globular siliceous bodies, 

 may afford some assistance in this way. 



There are only two British species enumerated among the 

 sponges in Dr. Bowerbank's Monograph, viz. Geodia zet- 

 landica and Pachymatisma Johnstonia, of which excellent 

 representations are given in vol. iii. (pis. vii. and viii. 

 tigs. l-9and 1-7 respectively). Butin the deeper sea around the 

 British Isles there are many more (" Sponges from the Atlantic 

 Ocean," ' Annals,' 1876, vol. xviii. p. 397 &c. pi. xvi.) ; and 

 the group is plentifully distributed throughout the warmei 



regions of the world, from which a great many so-called 



species have been recorded. But before all have been brought 

 together and properly divided, as just proposed, they must 

 continue as they now are, in hopeless confusion. 



Being unable to do more now than propose the divisions of 

 the Geodina above mentioned, I must refer the reader for the 

 little else that I have published on the subject to the u General 

 Observations " in my paper on the West-Indian Sponges 



(< Annals,' 1882, vol. ix. p. 363). 



Geodia canaliculata , Sdt (PL XIV. fig. l,a-m.) 



Geodia canaliculata, Spong. Kiiste v. Algier, 1868, p. 21, Taf. IT. fig. 7. 



It is strange that of this species, which Schmidt calls 



"new, ' he should have only given the abnormal spiculation: so, 

 having found one in Dr. Bowerbank's general collection from 

 Adelaide, on the south coast of Australia, now in the British 

 Museum, I have sought out the normal spiculation, which 

 belongs to my Section 2, b. Tims the arms of the zone-spicule 

 radiate on the same plane (that is, perpendicular to the shaft), 

 and are each bifurcated (PL XIV. fig. 1, b), while the normal 

 and fully developed globular or globo-elliptical siliceous body 

 or ball (tig. \,d and h) presents that pattern on its surface 

 (fig. 1, i-k) which will be more particularly d< bribed in the 



