OF THE MEKGT"I ARCHIPELAGO. 



231 



Colour in spirit : surface, head pale orange to yellowish white : 

 stem pink, upper part opaque white ; axis of head (below lobules) 

 whitish, subtransparent. 



Spicules (the measurements including tubercles): — (1) Pro- 

 jecting sp icule of external zooids : long, slender, fusiform, slightly 

 flexuoiis, tapering to fairly sharp points ; tubercles of median 

 portion small, rounded, rather crowded, erect ; those of interior 

 end similar, but outwardly directed (towards apex of spicules), up 

 to about '02 millim. long ; exterior end of spicule bare, or with 

 slight indications of tubercles, and with a scraped (? substriated) 

 appearance ; largest about 2*5 by '14 to "16 millim. (smaller pro- 

 jecting spicules measure about 1*5 by '1 millim.). (2) Large 

 spicules of cortex of axis below lobules as (1), but larger and with 

 both ends armed with tubercles projecting towards their own end 

 of the spicule ; size about 30 by "11 millim. ; chiefly longitudinally 

 arranged on the axis and its divisions. (3) Spicules of stem : 

 arenaceous-looking in the mass (up to about "1 miilim. in the 

 shorter diameter), too crowded to show their forms well, but 

 apparently short thick forms, with abundant smooth rounded 

 tubercles. Colours of spicules the same as those of the parts of 

 the colony at which thev are found. 



Hob. King Island Bay. 



The single specimen is preserved in spirit ; it bears three lobes, 

 more or less distinct, one median and superior, two lateral and 

 inferior. Total height 3 J inches. The head measures about 

 2| inches in greatest (lateral) diameter, 2 inches in vertical 

 diameter, mean thickness about f inch ; stem about 2 inches high 

 (by 1 inch in lateral, and f inch in autero-posterior diameter), 

 but proportions perhaps affected by distortion (shown by its very 

 wrinkled condition). A number of thin ribbon-like flat roots, 

 15-30 millim. wide, proceed from the lower surface of the 

 stem, and have much shelly sand attached. 



This species resembles, in outward form, the species described 

 by Dr. Gray as Jforchellana, which seems, however, to be only 

 a damaged Spongodes; but in that species the zooids are scattered 

 and not closely grouped. 



Spongodes yiGEOTrxcTA, n. sp. (Plate XVII. figs. 13-16.) 



Erect, distinctly capitate. Stem long (its length in the single 

 example about 3 times the maximum diameter), rather compressed 

 from front to back (the lateral diameter being twice the antero- 



