spoNonDA. 387 



HIKCINIID^. 

 Schulze, Zeitsch. iviss. Zool. xz:xii. p. 694. 



■ 12. ■Hircinia horrens. 



? Spongelia horrens, Selenka, Zeitsch. tciss. Zool. xvii. p. 566. 



Differs from Selenka's description in the pale colour (dull yeUow 

 or putty-colour) of the sponge as a whole and the pale brownish 

 colour of the sarcode ; the former is perhaps due to the absence from 

 the dermis of the dark bodies described as nuclei. The fibres are 

 closely reticulate in the conuli and in parts of the dermis ; in other 

 parts the latter is homogeneous, but of a ceratinous appearance ; the 

 diameter of the fibres is "042 to "088 miUim. (Selenka gives '07 to 

 •15). The conuli are, as in Selenka's specimen, about 5 to 10 millim. 

 apart, but not so prominent as most of those in that specimen. The 

 specimen is an irregular lobate mass growing over some bottom mate- 

 rial, and is itself much overgrown by a sponge (lotrochota), a Didem- 

 nid Ascidian, and a creeping Aloyonarian (OalUpodium). This latter 

 fact may account for the pale colour, which is perhaps owing to a 

 sickly condition produced by the growth of other animals obscuring 

 the pores ; and indeed an orange colour in one part of the sponge 

 itself seems likely to be due to local death. It is possible that 

 Selenka's species may prove to be an Aplysina. The specimen is 

 preserved in spirit. 



Hah. Prince of Wales Channel, Torres Straits, 7 fms. 



Distribution. Bass's Strait (Selenka) ? 



13. Hircinia, sp. 



Three specimens in spirit, incrusting in growth ; colour flesh- 

 tint. The primary fibres are almost full of foreign bodies in the 

 Torres-Straits specimen, less often so in the Port-Jackson one, and 

 are about -18 millim. in diameter ; the secondaries at acute angles to 

 the primaries, generally free from foreign bodies, and about -OG 

 miUim. in diameter. 



I had referred this to a species of Selenka's which I now see has 

 been referred to Aplysilla by Prof. F. E. Schulze. I hope to de- 

 scribe it more fully at a future time. 



Hah. West Island, Torres Straits, 7 fms. ; Port Jackson, 0-5 fms. 



DTSIDEIDiE. 

 Gray, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 611. 



Gray appears to have been the first to give a distinctive name to 

 this family, although Bbwerbank (Mon. Brit. Spong. i. p. 211), in 

 1864, makes Dysidea the type of a distinct suborder, to which he 

 gives no name. Marshall (" Ueber Dysideiden und Phoriospongien," 

 Zeitsch. wiss. Zool. xxxv. p.' 92) employs the same name ; and as his 

 arguments for the retention of the generic term Dysidea instead of 

 Spongelia appear to me to be vaUd, it seems desirable to retain the 

 old family name, which is derived from it, in preference to Spon- 



2o2 



