1002 DR. J. E. GRAY ON KYALONEMA LUSITANICUM. [DeC. 12, 



proceeding to pronounce that the specimens from Lisbon and from 

 Japan are the same, after simply examining and comparing one part 

 of the specimens, viz. the sponges attached to their bases, more espe- 

 cialW since M. Bocage has shown that the spicules of which the 

 rope-like axis is formed, and the palythoid animal on the bark, are 

 differently constructed. 



It is to be observed that my genus Hyalothrix was established on 

 characters quite independent of the sponge examined by Dr. Bower- 

 bank ; for at the time it was proposed no specimen of the coral with 

 a sponge attached to it had been obtained ; and the similarity or 

 non-similarity of the sponge of the Portuguese and Japanese speci- 

 mens can have no influence on the generic or specific characters of the 

 two corals, part of the characters being the difference in the number 

 and disposition of the tentacles (that Dr. Bowerbank will not see), 

 characters sufficient to separate the animal into genera, whether the 

 animal is a parasitic Palythoa, or is the animal that forms the rope- 

 like siliceous axis. They are characters observed not by me, but by 

 M. Bocage ; so that, in fact, Dr. Bowerbank's attempt, in which he 

 says " he has smashed me," does not bear very heavy on my head. 



I have seen PaJythoce affixed on shells containing Bernhard 

 Crabs, from several localitities at a distance from each other ; I have 

 never seen these PcdythocB on any other habitat. No one can believe 

 that the three were one animal, as is Mr. Bowerbank's theory with 

 regard to Hyalonema, 



The Palythoa, the shell, and the Bernhard Crab {Pagurus) from 

 each locality are peculiar, and always of the same species — the shell, 

 crab, and Palythoa being the species peculiar to the locality, viz. 

 Great Britain, United States, Sierra Leone, and Australia; so that 

 the fact of animals living in the same communities and circumstances 

 in different countries is no proof they are of the same species. 



Dr. Bowerbank, when he came to see the specimen of Hyalonema 

 hisitaniciim the day after the paper was read, observed that he had 

 not been able to find one kind of spicula in the Portuguese sponge 

 that is found in the Japan one ; so that probably the result of Dr. 

 Bowerbank's paper will be to show that there are two species of 

 sponges belonging to the genus Cai'teria, one Portuguese and the 

 other Japanese, instead of proving that the Japanese and Portuguese 

 Hyalonema are of one species. That is, if we can place reliance in Dr. 

 Bowerbank's microscopical examinations ; for, as, when he heard 

 that a sponge had been found attached to one of the Portuguese 

 specimens, he had predicted that it would be found to be the same 

 as the Japanese one, he is as desirous to find that it is so, for fear 

 he may loose his character as a prophet, as he is not to see the ten- 

 tacles and gonidia in the animal of Hyalonema, which, therefore, 

 he does not see ! though Brandt, Schultze, and Bocage have seen, 

 described, and figured them, and many other microscopical observers 

 have seen them at the late soiree of the Microscopical Society. Such 

 capricious faculties of seeing and not seeing make one lose one's 

 faith in Dr. Bowerbank's later observations. 



Mr. Lee has kindly shown me the specimen of Hyalonema sie- 



