SPONGIIDA. 
14 Spong. 
A summary of the literature of the nutrition and reproduction of Sponges 
is given. 
Ciliated epithelium of interior of Sponges, (7) p. 376, is very unstable, 
and tends to revert to its former mesodermic condition j and the three 
embryonic body-layers have not the distinct characters which they have 
in higher forms. The Gastrula stage is wanting in the lower Sponges. 
The theory of the connective-tissue character of the mesoderm of 
Sponges is supported by the development of the Chalinece ; (5) p. 322. 
Absorption of food always observed to be shared by the mesoderm- 
cells, sometimes to the exclusion of those of the endoderm, (7) p. 371, as 
in Spongilla, &c. 
The division of labour presented by the two kinds of endodermal 
epithelium in the higher Sponges is a derived, not a primitive, condition, 
(5) p. 326. 
W. C. Macintosh, Rep. Brit. Ass., xlix. p. 373, describes a branching 
Syllidean Annelid found in the canals of a Hexactinellid Sponge from 
Cebu. 
Intimate association of Sponges and Corals on rocks in the sea ; J. R. 
Micr. Soc. ii. p. 110. 
Fossil Sponges, Chief Papers on. 
14. ZiTTEL, A. K. Studien iiher fossile Spongien. III. Abtheilung 
Monactinellidce, Tetractinellidis, und Calcispongice. Abh. bayer. Ak. 
xiii. pt. 2, p. 1, pis. xi. & xii., to which the pages given below refer. 
Translated in Ann. N. H. (5) iii. pp. 304 & 364, iv. pp. 61 & 120, and 
mainly reproduced in JB. f. Mineral, and “Beitrage zur Systematik der 
Fossilen Spongien,” 
. Beitrage zur Systematik der Fossilen Spongien. Stuttgart : 1879, 
10 pis. 
A reprint of Zittel’s recent papers in JB. f. Mineral., reproducing 
in the main those originally published in Abh. bayer. Ak. ii. cl. xiii., 
reported in Zool. Rec. xiv. & xv. and the present volume. It sums up in 
a most convenient form the author’s recent important work, embracing 
all the groups of the Fossil Sponges. The systematic work on the 
nexactinellidce is the same as that given in Zool. Rec. xiv. with the 
exception of a few unimportant alterations ; the plates, four in number, 
are added from JB. f. Mineral., and should be consulted. See also 
antedy p. 7 ; for ' Lithistidcn, Zool. Rec. xv. ; and for Monactinellidce y 
Tetractinellidcey CalcispongidcBy infra (14). 
SiNZOW, — . Ueber Kreideschwamme des Saratowschen Gouvernments. 
6 pis. [In Russian.] Denksch. neuruss. naturf. Ges. vi. 1, p. 1. 
[Not seen by Recorder.] 
H. J. Carter, Ann. N. H. (5) iv. p. 431, records the result of an 
examination of some Fossil Sponges from the Farringdon Coral Rag and 
of some other specimens, and confirms Zittel’s opinion that Peronella 
multidigitata is a Calcisponge ; a species of Corynella appears to be a Lithi- 
