368 COLLBCTIONS FKOM MELANESIA. 



Chalinidse are especially abundant (16 species, 5 new). No essen- 

 tially new types occur ; but of two new genera, one (Toxochalina) 

 is formed in recognition of a character, hitherto overlooked, connect- 

 ing this family with the Desmacidinidse. Seventeen Eenieridae (5 

 new) occur, which are chiefly remarkable for their close resemblance 

 to European forms, all the genera and three species being^ already 

 known from Europe. The Desmacidinidse have 19 species, and 

 include 9 new forms, and a species, for which I have established a 

 new genus, Oelliodes, which appears to be an extreme development 

 of the well-known European Qellius (Desmacodes, Schmidt), also 

 two species for which a genus (lotrochota) is formed, in tardy 

 recognition of their great distinctness ; it is probably related rather 

 to the deep-sea genera Chondrodadia and Cladorrhiza than to any 

 littoral genera, except Monanehora, Carter, and is remarkable as 

 being a persistent littoral representative of what was probably one 

 of the earliest types of Desmacidines, viz. that in which the ancho- 

 rate spicule was symmetrical. Such old types usually survive only in 

 the deep sea or fresh water ; we have already seen that the deep sea 

 produces examples of it, and probably the Spongillidae with biro- 

 tulate spicules are a-lso modern representatives of this type, which 

 (or whose ancestors) have taken refuge in fresh water. Eemarkable 

 as are the outward forms assumed by the species of JRMzoeha- 

 lina here described, they will not surprise those who have studied 

 the paper in which Mr. Carter recently described (under the name 

 Phlceodidyon) a number of species belonging to this genus from 

 various parts of the world ; perhaps, however, Torres Straits wUl 

 prove to be more prolific in this respect than any other locality. 

 The Ectyonidae are remarkably rich in new forms (10 species out 

 of 17). Olathria, which is small in growth and not very rich in 

 species even in the Mediterranean, here assumes a great develop- 

 ment in size and number of species. The distribution of the Axi- 

 neUidse is as much bathybial as littoral, in accordance with which 

 fact we only have three species here. Of the 8 species of Suberitidse, 

 4 are new. 



The suborder Tetractinellida is, in conformity with the fondness 

 for greater depths and the relative scarcity of individuals which its 

 members commonly exhibit, represented by only 7 species, of which 

 four are new, and all belong to the Choristidse (SoUas). 



The Calcarea are poorly represented (3 species), and afford nothing 

 of great interest from a taxonomic point of view. 



I have given further details, where necessary, of the more remark- 

 able systematic points under the different groups themselves, and a 

 classified list of the species is inserted in the account of the Geogra- 

 phical Distribution. 



Anatomy amd Histology of Soft Farts. — ^Want of time has pre- 

 vented me from thoroughly investigating these subjects at present, 

 interesting and important in the extreme as they are, and favourable 

 in many cases for the purpose as is the material contained in the 

 coUeotion. A few notes relating specially to the histology wUl 

 be found scattered throughout the Eeport (see especially Aplydna, 



