Papers from Dr. Th. Mortensen’s Pacific Expedition 
19]4_lt5. 
XXIII. 
Sponges from New Zealand. Part I. 
By 
H. V. Brøndsted, Birkerød. 
This paper is the first part of a treatise on the sponges collected 
by Dr. Mortensen at New Zealand in 1914—15. It contains a 
report on the Tetraxonida; a second and concluding part will deal 
with the groups Euceratosa and Calcarea; Hexactinellida are not 
represented in the collection. In the second part, which is in 
preparation, a general discussion of the sponge-fauna of New 
Zealand will be given. 
The material is, as most material from expeditions, in a State 
of preservation only permitting coarser investigations; it is partly 
preserved in rather thin formaline, and specimens thus preserved 
are nearly all slimy and a good deal macerated; also Den dy has 
had the same experience (7,^) pag. 272). 
I take the opportunity here to express my deep sense of gra- 
titude towards Dr. Mortensen for handing me over this most 
interesting collection. It forms a very important supplement to the 
report on the sponges of the “Terra-Nova** Expedition, so admirably 
dealt with by Den dy 1924 (7), and very considerably increases 
our knowledge of the New Zealand sponge fauna. 
Order Tetraxonida. 
Suborder Astrotetraxonida. 
Myriastra biformis nov. spec. 
(Fig. 1, a-e.) 
Off New-PIymouth. 8 fathoms. Hard bottom. 12/1.1915. 
One little specimen, globular, 23mm in diameter; surface strongly 
hispid; one osculum(?) at the side of the body, flush with the surface. 
1) The numbers correspond to the literature-list. 
28 ‘ 
