BRITISH SPONGIAD^. 131 



more recurved fi'om about the middle to the distal ex- 

 tremity of the shaft. These spicula radiate from the 

 columns of the skeleton at angles varying from ten to forty 

 degrees towards the surface of the sponge ; and they are 

 also projected in considerable numbers from the basal 

 membrane of the sponge in the intervals between the bases 

 of the columns of the skeleton at right angles to the basal 

 naembrane. The columns of the skeleton are rarely 

 connected with each other by membranes near their 

 bases, but they are abundantly so connected near their 

 apices ; and in these membranes we find numerous fasci- 

 culi of the sub-clavated attenuato-acuate tension spicula, 

 and a few of them are also disposed longitudinally in the 

 membranes surrounding the columns of the skeleton. The 

 anguloid tricurvato-acerate spicula are abundant ift -all 

 parts of the membranous tissue. These spicula are^iHg'uJar 

 in their character, the middle curves being very short arid 

 frequently nearly semicircular, while the terminal ones are 

 long, but very slightly curved, so that the spiculum very 

 nearly approaches the form of the letter V. The retentive 

 spicula are very minute, and require a linear power of 

 about 600 to render them distinctly. 



I subsequently received two small specimens of this 

 species, dredged off" Jersey, in the summer of 1859, by the 

 Rev. AvM. Norman. The sponges completely coated each 

 of two specimens of Mwrex corallinus, the largest of which 

 was seven lines in length, and the thickness of the sponge 

 upon it was not more than one third of a line ; but it was 

 evidently a mature specimen, as there were a considerable 

 number of gemmules imbedded amidst the tissues. They 

 were spherical and membranous, and entirely destitute of 

 spicula, and full of vesicular molecules. They varied in 

 diameter firom tsreth inch to i^th inch. My friend 

 de'scribcs the sponges, in his letter to me, as, when alive, 

 of " a very pretty blood-red. 



