346 ME. ALBANY HANCOCK ON 



however, requires no unrolling to exhibit this relationship ; but 

 it will be best understood on comparing the figures of the various 

 species illustrating my paper before referred to on the exca- 

 vating sponges with the many instructive figures of the sarcode 

 given in Dr. Carpenter's " Introduction to the study of the Eora- 

 minifera," published by the Ray Society. On examining the 

 representation of the cast of the chambers of Orhitoicles Fosteri 

 therein given from Ehrenberg,* 4 it is seen that the chambers or 

 lobes are arranged cyclically, but in a radial direction they assume 

 a branched distribution ; and if we trace the connection of the 

 lobes (pi. I, fig. 8) from the centre to the circumference, begin- 

 ning with those next the primordial lobe, we can easily observe 

 that they are not merely connected into branches by delicate 

 stems, but that these branches divide dichotomously and anas- 

 tomose very much in the same manner as do those of Cliona. 

 Indeed, the structure appears to be essentially the same in both, 

 differing only in the fact that in Orlitoicles the lobes, in addition 

 to a branched, partake of a cyclical arrangement. 



Should this similarity in the structure of the Foraminifera and 

 Cliona be anything more than a mere vague analogy, spicula 

 might be expected to occur in some species of the former, and 

 accordingly such seems to be the case. A few years ago Dr. J. 

 E. Gray discovered spicula in a new generic form, designated by 

 him Carpenteria,-\ and at the time he commented on the fact as 

 proving the connection supposed to exist between the Foramini- 

 fera and the Porifera : it is possible, however, that these spicules 

 may be parasitic. It would therefore seem likely that there 

 is something real in the relationship pointed out; and, indeed, 

 when we recollect that the Clionce are among the lower organized 

 sponges, their intimate connection with the Foraminif&ra is what 

 might be looked for. 



I shall now close these few remarks with amended descriptions 

 of the spicula of the British Clionce, and with full descriptions 

 of four new foreign species. The characters of the additional 



* PI. XXII, fig. 2. 

 t " Proceedings of the Zoological Society," April 27, 185S. Part XXVI, p. 26S. 



