360 Mr. H. J, Carter's Contributions to our 



sponges in the British Museum for the purpose of writing a 

 " Commentary " on them, and had only time to note the 

 relationship ; while until now I have not had occasion to 

 return to the subject seriously, and thus now find it necessary 

 to state the result of my investigations more precisely. Bat 

 when Prof. Sollas observes that I attempted to " impose " the 

 name "Tisiphonia" upon Normania crassa, because I called 

 the Manaar specimen "Tisiphonia nana" it should be re- 

 membered that Sir Wyville Thomson, as before stated, had 

 used the term u Tisiphonia " six months before u Wyville* 

 thorn soma Wattichii" appeared, and that he was then cogni- 

 zant of the nature of "Tisiphonta" or he would not have 

 coupled it with "Stelletta ; " further, that I was not then pre- 

 pared to accept Dr. Gray's change of "Tethea" to u Thenea 

 muricata" and hence had no option but to call the Manaar 

 specimen "Tisiphonia" 



Lastly, with reference to the Rev. A. M. Norman's state- 

 ment (Bowerbank's Mon. Brit. Spong, vol. iv. 1882, p. 31, 

 posthumously edited by Mr. Norman), viz. that 1 speak " very 

 confidently respecting the type specimen of Normania crassa, 

 a sponge which is in my cabinet, and which he has never 

 seen," I must reply that I have probably seen more speci- 

 mens of it than Mr. Norman himself, if 7 in addition to what I 

 have stated, the specimen in Dr. Bowerbank's collection of 

 British sponges now in the British Museum (that I had long 

 since sketched and examined microscopically with great care) , 

 together with the representation and description of Mr. Nor- 

 man's u cabinet" specimen in Dr. Bowerbank's third volume 

 (plate lxxxi. &c), be taken into account. Moreover, if the 

 spicuiation had been " wholly different " from that of Tethea 

 muricata, as Mr. Norman has stated, contrary to the observa- 

 tions of Prof. Sollas and myself, I should in all probability 

 have not "cursorily " stated that Normania crassa was only 

 a sessile form of Tethea muricata, nor would Schmidt have 

 indorsed my opinion as before stated. 



Thus the results of my investigations are as follows, viz. 

 that the term u Thenea" for " Tethea muricata" as proposed 

 by Dr. Gray, should be accepted and a group headed "The- 

 neanina " formed under the simple diagnosis of " spinispirular 

 flesh-spicules," which should be inserted between Stellettina 



and Tethyina, in which there should be two genera having the 

 characters of Tethea muricata and Normania crassa respec- 

 tively, as above described, but with their names altered also 

 respectively to "Thenea," Gray, and u Ecionemia," Bk. My 

 reasons for using the term " Ecionemia " for the second genus are 

 the following, viz.: — the almost complete identity that exists be- 







