ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETO. 465 



2400 feet above tide-water ; Heteromeyenia longistylis witb the longest 

 shafts to the birotulate spicules known ; a variety of H. Byderi ; 

 Pleiomeyenia calumeticus, P. Walker i, P. sjnnifera, Meyenia suhdivisa, 

 and M. Millsii. 



New Sponges from South Australia.*— Mr. H. J. Carter de- 

 scribes some new sponges from the neighbourhood of Port Phillip 

 Heads, South Australia. 



Esperia parasitica n. sp. was found growing over the skeletal fibre 

 of a dead Psammonematous sponge ; it is chiefly characterized by the 

 free end of the large inequianchorate being furnished with four teeth. 

 Forcepta colonensis Carter, provisionally described in 1871, from a 

 flesh-spicule dredged near Colon. F. crassancliorata n. sp. very much 

 resembles Halichondria incrustans in appearance and structure. In 

 Halicliondria scdbida n. sp. the pore-areas are circumscribed and open, 

 through the subdermal cavities, directly into the large excretory 

 canals, which present circular folds throughout their course. Suberites 

 Wilsoni n. sp. has no flesh-spicule, thus differing, among other things, 

 from Alcyonium purpureum Lam., in common with wliich, however, it 

 retains its colour after drying. Acanthella cactiformis n. sp. may be 

 a " variety " of the Adriatic species. Chalina polychotoma var. 

 trichotoma n. v. Halisarca australiensis n. sp. is remarkable for the 

 fibro-reticulated structure of the surface. Lujfaria digitata n. sp. is 

 characterized by the comparative absence of lateral fibre, the small- 

 ness of the core compared with the thickness of the keratose wall of 

 the fibre generally, the coarse open fibrous reticulation of the skeleton, 

 and the red fleshy sarcode. Darwinella australiensis n. sp. differs from 

 other species of the genus in the prevailing number of the rays being 

 three instead of four or more. Aplysina Icevis n. sp. has a smooth 

 surface and leathery dark dermis, being without conuli and any 

 projecting filaments of the fibro-skeletal structure ; it is charged 

 with a large amount of foreign material, Pseudoceratina durissima 

 D. sp. is distinguished by its intense wood-like hardness and the fact 

 that when cut into the interior is yellow, but rapidly changes to 

 green and lastly to lead colour or grey. Pseudoceratina crateriformis 

 (provisional) is allied in some respects to Ceratina, in others to 

 Halispongia cJioanoides. 



Mr. Carter revises the order Psammonemata which he subdivides 

 into three families — Bubulida, Hircinida, and Pseudohircinida — com- 

 prising 19 groups. Holopsamma n. g. is a genus of arenaceous 

 sponges without fibre, whose composition consists of foreign micro- 

 scopic objects, (sand, &c.), diffused in the flakes of the parenchymatous 

 sarcode. H. crassa n. sp. is variable in form and size, and chiefly 

 distinguishable by the coarseness and grittiness of the sand ; H. Icevis 

 n. sp. has a comparatively light structure. H. lamincefavosa n. sp. 

 is characterized by the globular, elongated, or hemispherical structure 

 radiating laminiferously or in the form of a honeycomb, together 

 with its dark brown colour. H. fuliginosa n. sp. is remarkably 



* Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xv. a885) pp. 107-17 (1 pi.), 196-222, and 

 301-21. 



Ser. 2.— YoL. Y.- 2 H 



