474 
There are also some small fistula-fragments of the species from 
the same locality; in these the tylota measure only up to 650 x 
12 /I, and the isochelae only ca. 22 
CL 
S- 
Axinella colvillii nov. spec. 
(Fig. 27 a-b.) 
Little Barrier Island. 30 fathoms. Shell-bottom. 29/XII.1914. 
Colville Channel. 35 fathoms. Sand, mud. 21/XII.1914. 
Three specimens. The base is lump-shaped and enerusting with 
shells and sand; from this base numerous siender processes arise 
vertically; the largest specimen attains 95 mm in 
its greatest extension; the largest processes are 
about 12 mm in diameter at the base, apices 
pointed, about 55 mm high; their appearance is 
very characteristic: they are spined, the spines 
being up to 4 mm in length, and placed in lon¬ 
gitudinal rows, here and there coalescing with the 
bases so as to form ridges, and a transverse section 
of the process will appear rather like an aster. 
The surface is everywhere shaggy. Numerous 
apertures from a fraction of 1 mm to 4 mm in 
diameter are seen everywhere; they are probably 
ostia. Consistence rather soft, but somewhat brittle. 
Colour of the body dirty grey, of the processes 
1 whitish with a red tint. 
\ \\ The skeleton is composed of densely aggregated 
spicula-columns directed outwards towards the sur¬ 
face in the main body, longitudinally in the pro¬ 
cesses; the fibres are so densely packed, that their 
outer spicules, which are directed a little obliquely 
outwards, are partly Crossing those of the neigh- 
bouring fibres; the before mentioned spines at 
the processes are mainly composed of spicules 
issuing from the main fibres at nearly right angles; many scattered 
spicules oceur, mostly oxea, which only form a small part of the 
main skeleton of the fibres; they oceur in greater number in the 
outer parts of the sponge than in the interior. 
Spicules. 1. S ty li (fig. 27 a), straight or slightly bent, generally 
Fig. 27. Axinella 
colvillii nov. spec. 
a. Styli. h. Oxea. 
