362 Mr. H. J. Carter on 



Ohs. This specimen has a piece of Varwinella australiensis 

 about an inch in diameter growing upon its flat surface. 



25. Axinella pilifera. 



Massive, lobed, contracted towards the base, lobes more or 

 less compressed. Consistence soft. Colour when fresh 

 " orange-brown," now light brown. Surface covered with 

 conuli, from the summit of each of -which projects a 

 coarse single filament of the fibre charged with the spicules of 

 the species, giving the whole a hairy appearance. Vents 

 small, scattered here and there over the lobes. Spicules of 

 one form only, viz. acerate, 65 by 2-6000ths, chiefly confined 

 to and projecting through the fibre. Structure rather loose 

 generally. Specimen 3 in. high by 3^x 1^ in. horizontally. 



Depth 20 fath. 



26. Axinella meloniformis. 



Massive, globular, sessile, ridged meridionally like a melon, 

 with a depression on the summit. Consistence firm. Colour 

 when fresh " orange," now pale yellow. Surface uniformly 

 granulated, covered by a smooth dermis. Spicule of one 

 form only, viz. acerate, 150 by 4-6000ths. Structure com- 

 pact, hard, rough. Presenting immediately under the dermis 

 a layer of large ? epithelial, nucleated, and granuliferous cells, 

 chiefly elliptical in form, and about 10-6000ths in the longest 

 diameter, accompanied by a layer of much smaller ones in the 

 dermis, ? the real epithelial cells. Size of specimen 1 x 1 x 1 in. 



Depth 11 fath. 



Ohs. The presence of these large circular and elliptical 

 nucleated and granuliferous cells, such as are found in several 

 sponges (ex. gr. Dercitus niger^ &c., ' Annals,' 1871, vol. vii. 

 pi. iv. fig. 6, &c.), also in the Australian "new species" of 

 Lufikrida (^ Dendrilla rosea, Lendenfeld) to which I have 

 alluded as probably a new species in the ' Annals ' of 1885, 

 vol. XV. p. 202, &c., is interesting because they are underneath 

 the fibrous dermis which is covered on the immediate surface 

 with much smaller, ? the real epithelial cells, while the larger 

 ones can hardly be considered to be ova, as they are confined 

 to the position mentioned. They are pigment-cells in Der- 

 citus niger. 



27. Axinella solida. 



Sessile, spreading, thick, cork-like mass. Consistence soft. 

 Colour when fresh " orange," now sponge-colour. Surface 

 undulating, cauliflower-like, consisting of short pointed granu- 



