PROTOZOA. 
677 
Alcyoncellum gpeciosurh, Quoy Sc QQ\mhYd, = Enplectella asjyergiUurh and 
E. Owen, Philippines, Bowerbank, /. c. p. 344, pi. 24. figs. 8-11. 
A. speciosum. Dr. Bowerbank describes the dermal membrane as abun- 
dantly spiculous ; spicules acerate, long, and slender, fasciculated ; fasciculi 
compact, disposed in radiating or parallel groups. 
In treating of the zoological position and affinities of the 
genus Wyville Thomson (/. c. p. 711) gives the follow- 
ing outline of a classification of sponges, slightly modified from 
that of Oscar Schmidt. An outline of a classification very like 
the following was published in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 
February 1868 (see Zoological Becord, 1868, p. 581) ; but there 
are in the present one some very important modifications from 
the one there given : in particular the diagnosis of the Order 1 . 
Vitrea, has been considerably amended ; and it would have been 
well had the reader^s attention been called to this fact. 
Class PoRiFERA, Grant. 
Subclass I. (Porifera) Calc are a, Bwk. ^‘Skeleton composed of calca- 
reous spicules, which are generally three-rayed stellate ” (Gray), equivalent 
to O. Schmidt’s first famil 3 ^ Examples : Gj'antia, Sycon. 
Subclass II, (Porifera) Silicea, Gray. Sponges provided with a siliceous 
or horny skeleton, or with a horny skeleton strengthened with siliceous 
spicules.” 
Order 1. Vitrea, Wyville Thomson. Sarcode usually soft, containing hut 
little formed horny matter in the form of minute granules^. The skeleton con- 
sists entirely of siliceous spicules, either separate (in fascicles or scattered) or 
soldered together and combined into a continuous siliceous network. The 
sarcode contains small free spicules, different in character from the spicules 
of the skeleton, and frequently of complicated forms. In the typical sponges 
of the order all the spicules, whether of the skeleton or of the sarcode, may 
be referred to the hexradiate type. Examples : Iloltenia, Hyalonema^ Dac- 
tylocalyx. 
Order 2. Badiantia, Wyville Thomson (=Corticata, O. Sdt. in part). 
Globular, tuberous, or branched sponges, supported by regular radiating 
sheaves of long siliceous spicules, and invested with a more or less dense 
cortical layer, often containing spicules of special and characteristic forms. 
Suborder 1. CoHicata (=Corticata, 0. Sdt.). Cortical layer dense and 
well defined. Examples : Tethya^ Geodia, Placospongia. 
Suborder 2. Leptophka, Wyville Thomson. Cortical layer consisting of 
a thin, almost membranous, sheet of soft sarcode. Examples ; Tisiphoniuj 
g. n., Stylocordyla, g, n. [these new genera are not described]. 
Orders. Haliciiondrida, Sponges tuberous, branching, cup-shaped, irre- 
gular, or incrusting, without any definite cortical layer. The sarcode is 
abundant, consistent, and in all cases is supported by a considerable amount 
of horny matter, which is fibrous, granular, and diffused, or in the form of 
more or less distinct membranous expansions. The sponge frequently con- 
tains an abundance of siliceous spicules variously arranged. 
* The italics indicate some of the chief emendations. 
