86 BRITISH SPONGES: 



or warts, the lower part smooth and slimy, with a few bimdles 

 of spicula projecting at the root. The extent of smoothness at 

 the base is regulated by the depth of mud in which the species 

 grows immersed. There are no oscula nor pores, and the 

 spicula either do not project beyond the surface or only spar- 

 ingly and to a slight extent. The inside is fibro-fleshy and 

 yellowish brown. The nucleus is usually excentrick and near 

 the base, whence the bundles of spicula rise, like ligaments, to 

 the circumference, passing through the soft parenchjina and 

 enlargingtowards their terminations. This arrangement is very 

 well represented by Donati, at Fig. I. of the plate quoted in our 

 synonjTnes. Many of the spicula pass through the skin, which 

 is cartilaginous and about one-tenth of an inch in thickness, but 

 becoming thin or obsolete on the smooth basal portion. The 

 spicula are exceedingly profuse, fasciculate, slender, smooth and 

 fusiform, obtuse and roimded at one end, while the other is 

 pointed and sharp. They vary in length,*are mostly straight, 

 but some are curved, and in most a central cavity can be dis- 

 tinctly seen. The spicula of the skin are shorter than those 

 of 'the body, and in the spaces between their fascicles there are 

 likewise found, although in no great numbers, some curious stel- 

 lated spicula, somewhat like those of a Grantia. (Plate I. Fig. 

 10.) Tricuspidate spicula I did not detect amongst them. 



I have had this species sent me as the Cydoxium Mulleri 

 of Fleming, and I believe it to be the same, for it may be ob- 

 served that the description, in the " Hist, of British Animals," is 

 taken from a dried specimen, in which, it is admitted, that the cells 

 leading from the stellate pores were indistinct.* The Alcyonium 



* Dr Grant's description of the spicula of the Cydonium Mulleri is, 

 however, opposed to this conjecture. He says, — " we observe the inte- 

 rior composed of two forms of spicula ; one slender, long, and fusiform ; 

 the other thick and branched at one end into three short curved rays ; 

 and the outer covering of the zoophyte is composed of regular minute 



