238 DE. HI^'DE AJfD ME. HOLMES OIN" SPONUE-REMAIKS 



Similar spicules likewise occur detached in the 'Egeria' dredg- 

 ings off the S.W. coast of Australia, at a depth, of 3000 fathoms, 



Stelletia (c). — PL XIY. fig. 30. Grlobostellate with numerous 

 stout conical rays, divided at the apex into two or three small 

 spines or lobes. Diameter of spicule '102 mm., length of rays 

 •025 mm., thickness '02 mm. 



PI. XII. fig. 33. Globostellate with short subcylindrical 

 truncate rays, in number 10 or 12, their summits are bi- or tri- 

 partite and spined. Diameter of spicule "015 mm., length of 

 rays '0055 mm., thickness "OOSS- mm. This form somewhat 

 resembles the globostellates of 8. glohostellata, Carter, referred to 

 above, but it is much smaller. In the character of the rays it is 

 similar to the spicules of Dictyocylindrus dentatus, Bowk. (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 321, pi. xxix. figs. 3, 4), but these latter 

 possess only 6 rays, and they are moreover much larger forms. 



Stellate and Glohostellate Spicules of Stelletta, Osc. Schmidt, 

 and allied Genera. 



Stelletta (d).— PL XIV. figs. 15, 16. Stellate spicules with 

 elongate tapering rays, without any definite centre. Eays 

 smooth, acute or obtusely pointed, from 5 to 10 in number. 

 Length "04 mm. to '044 mm., thickness at base "0033 mm. 

 Similar stellates are present in Stelletta Wageneri, Osc. Sch. 

 (Adriat. Spong. p. 46, pi. iv. figs. Se,J-), and in Pachymatisma 

 contorta, Bowk. (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 327, pi. xxxi. fig. 10), 

 from off the Fiji Islands. 



PL XIV. fig. 19. Globostellate with small well-defined centre 

 and about 9 smooth, conical, tapering rays. Diameter of spicule 

 •09 mm. ; of centre ^012 mm. Length of rays "035 mm. This 

 form differs from the preceding in having a definite centre. 



Glohostellate Spicules q/Tethya, Lamarck, and other Genera. 



Tethya (a).— PL XIV. figs. 17, 20, 22, 24. Globostellate 

 spicules with stout, conical, pointed or obtuse rays, from 9 to about 

 28 in number. The rays are usually smooth, but occasionally 

 minutely tuherculate, wdth canals in each, which open at the 

 end of the rays. The diameter of the smallest specimen (tig. 22) 

 is -05 mm., length of rays ^0017 mm. The diameter of the 

 liargest is ^184 mm., length of rays "078 mm. These spicules are 

 fairly numerous in the deposit ; they resemble the spicules of 



