430 . JANE STEPHENS : ATLANTIC SPONGES 



Several specimens were obtained, growing on sea-weed, which agree exactly, both 

 in external appearance and in the structure of the skeleton, with Haeckel's description 

 (8) of this species. Although six species of Leucandra were found in the collection 

 of calcareous sponges made within recent years off the Cape Verde Islands (18), 

 L. crambessa was not among them. This species, though long known only from the 

 Mediterranean, has, however, already been found outside that area, Breitfuss having 

 recorded it for the west coast of Portugal (Zool. Jahrb. Syst., xi. 1898). 



NON-CALCAREA. 



Order HEXACTINELLIDA. 



Sub-order HEXASTROPHORA. 



Family Aphrocallisttd^e. 



Aphrocallistes beatrix Gray. 



Station 542. Princesse Alice Bank, 37° 56' N., 29° 11' W., 350 fathoms. 

 4th July 1904. 



The collection contains five small pieces of this well-known species, which has 

 frequently been dredged in the neighbourhood of the Azores and in other parts of 

 the Atlantic. The two largest pieces are, respectively, 90 and 120 mm. in length. 

 They are of the characteristic shape, with radial, thimble-like diverticula. The 

 Atlantic specimens of this widely distributed species have usually been recorded 

 under the name of Aphrocallistes bocagei Wright, a name now regarded by Schulze 

 (17) as a synonym of Aphrocallistes beatrix Gray. 



Distribution. — North and South Atlantic, and Indian and Pacific Oceans, from 

 about 77 fathoms to 1075 fathoms. 



With the exception of Aphrocallistes beatrix, no Hexactinellid sponges are in the 

 collection, but a small, sponge-like mass, dredged in 25 fathoms at the entrance to 

 Saldanha Bay, proved to be made up of numerous long diacts of Hexactinellida 

 matted together. Among the diacts, in addition to a quantity of fine mud, were 

 entangled hexacts, oxyhexasters, and other Hexactinellid spicules, as well as styli, 

 chelae, and sigmata of Monaxonellid sponges. 



Topsent (23) has noted similar accumulations of Hexactinellid spicules, which 

 were found among the sponges of the Francais Antarctic Expedition, and which, 

 he suggests, may be due to the action of currents. The spicules belonged to 

 species of Rossella. These accumulations of Rossella spicules were obtained in much 

 shallower water than were the living representatives of the Rossellidee which had 

 previously been dredged by the Belgica in the same region. 



