GEODIDAE. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



This monograph is the first part of a report on the Sihceous Sponges col- 

 lected during the cruises of the "Albatross" in the Pacific Ocean. It deals 

 with the Geodidae and contains detailed descriptions of the species and varieties 

 of this family represented in the collection, a systematic account of the known 

 Pacific Geodidae, and a discussion on their distribution. 



There are altogether eighty-nine specimens in the collection. Two of them 

 are dry, all the others are preserved in spirit. To make the identification of 

 these sponges positive and to be able to give fuller cUagnoses of some species 

 which were insufficiently described, I have in addition to those collected by the 

 " Albatross " examined several tynpe specimens in the British Museum and in 

 the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada. 



In my report on the Tetraxonia of the Deutsche Tiefsee-Expedition I gave 

 an account ' of my method of fractional sedimentation for obtaining spicule- 

 preparations. This method has been employed also in preparing the material 

 for the present report. 



For the graphic representation of sponges and of their parts, photographs 

 reproduced mechanically (phototj^pically) are, in my opinion, far superior to 

 drawings reproduced lithographically. It is not only that drawings never can 

 be so accurate as photographs, but in drawing such objects as sections or spicules 

 of sponges the author who draws them or has them drawn under his supervision, 

 and who sees that the points he considers important are correctly reproduced, 



' R. V. Lendenfeld. Die Tetraxonia. Wissenseh. ergebn. deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition, 1S9S-1S99. 

 1907, 11, p. 82. 



