lip," referred to in 'Nature,' for Oct. 20th, as taken in the recent Porcupine' expedition, is identical with the species I here introduce under the name of Askonema. A few words' conversation with Dr. Wyville Thomson has tended to more fully deepen this conviction. Should my surmises prove correct, my opinion expressed in reference to the habitat of this interesting sponge will likewise be confirmed.]

A. Setubalense, sp. nov.

Sponge body, vase- or sac- like, of large dimensions, expanding superiorly, often upwards of two feet in height; composed of interlacing fasciculi of long filiform fibres or spicula. Individual filiform spicula, smooth, finely canaliculate, varying in diameter from th toth of an inch, occasionally possessing a central or excentral inflation, as at Plate LXIV., Fig. 4. Hexradiate spicula of two types, the one large, with smooth attenuate radii, the other of smaller but more varying size, with obtuse extremities and entirely erectly spinous surfaces. Scattered through this sponge there also occasionally occur simple attenuate spicula clavate, and erectly spined at either extremity. (See Plate LXIV., Fig. 5.) Average diameter of the minute multiradiate spiculath of an inch.

The radii of the minute sarcode spicula last referred to may originate from a six-rayed foundational portion, as in the "spinulomultifurcate hexradiate stellate" type of Dr. Bowerbank; but an examination with a high power has failed to eliminate for me such a structure, each individual capitate radius apparently springing from a common irregularly spherical nucleus. All the specimens of this remarkable sponge, which I was accorded the honour of examining, possessed the same ragged basal extremity as represented in the reduced outline given at Fig. 1, so that from its hat-like point of view one would feel inclined to refer it to the species usually supposed to bedeck the head of one of the vivacious inhabitants of the Emerald Isle fresh from the allurements of "Donnybrook Fair," if I may be allowed to make so irrelevant a remark; this feature is, however, replete with scientific significance. It indicates that this sponge was either firmly attached by its base to some fixed submarine body, or otherwise being supported loosely in the muddy ooze, its interior cavity had become filled with sedimentary deposit to such an extent, that the bottom had given way on its removal being effected, either of which suppositions amply accounts for the lacerated inferior margin.

A certain amount of doubt at present remains attached to the exact locality and circumstances in which the specimens of this sponge were taken, some of the fishermen asserting that it is procured from the numerous rocky caverns that fringe the coast-line between Cezimbra and Cape Espichel, while others state that it inhabits the deep-sea fishing-ground, many miles off the coast, in

company with Pheronema, Hyalonema, and numerous other abyssal forms. The balance of evidence is certainly in favour of the correctness of the latter of these two suppositions, no sponge belonging to the same group having yet been met with within the littoral zone, and the sponges themselves presenting the aspect of having been partially immersed in the same semi-calcareous ooze in which their congeners just referred to are known to occur.

Hyalonema lusitanica, Gray.

One or two specimens of this form were taken, particulars in connection with which I reserve for future publication.

Lanuginella pupa, Os. Schmidt.

This species has only just been described by Dr. Oscar Schmidt in his 'Spongien-Fauna des Atlantischen Gebietes.' The examples examined by Dr. Schmidt were attached to a specimen of Aphrocallistes Bocagei in the same manner that those taken by ourselves are attached to a branch of Lophohelia prolifera.

The sponge body of Lanuginella pupa is cup-shaped, and rarely exceeds one-eighth of an inch in height; the supporting skeleton is composed of a loose interlacement of hexradiate spicula of various sizes, having the appearance under a low power of the microscope of a continuous reticulation, in consequence of the shafts of the spicula being brought in contact with one another through the medium of the investing sarcode.

These hexradiate spicula are of various sizes, with long, slender, smooth, and acutely terminating radii, resembling in miniature the larger form alluded to in the description of Askonema; occasionally the basal extremity of the perpendicular shaft is slightly inflated.

Scattered in the sarcode are minute multiradiate spicula with capitate extremities, which must be referred to the "spinulo-multifurcate, or spinulo-trifurcated, or quadrifurcate hexradiate stellate" types of Bowerbank, though at the same time it is a matter of regret we cannot express our meaning in fewer words.

In examining a slide prepared from this sponge I have encountered some minute capsular bodies which appear to partake of the nature of reproductive gemmules, and which will, I think, prove to be the first record of their presence in the particular group of the CALICISPONGLE, to which this form is referred in my appended system of classification. Two of these bodies were observed and are figured at Plate LXV.; the smaller one of the two, Fig. 6, presented the appearance of an ovoid, membranous, amber-coloured capsule, having at either pole a radiating fascicle of spicula, which embraced and guarded the extremity of the capsule to which it was attached. The larger, about double the size of the last, exactly resembled it, with the exception that minute simple hexradiate spicula were dispersed

irregularly throughout the interpolar region, seemingly as an additional protection; we may naturally presume that the last-mentioned form is simply a more advanced condition of the first.

Aphrocallistes Bocagei, E. P. Wright.

In the January number of the 'Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science' for this year, Professor Percival Wright describes and figures a very beautiful reticulated sponge under the name above given, at the same time he is not quite certain of its distinctness from an earlier described species A. Beatrix (J. E. Gray), in consequence of the specimens he examined being denuded of the minute and characteristic sarcode spicula. This late expedition has resulted in our obtaining a perfectly fresh specimen of this elegant sponge, and its examination enables me to fully substantiate its specific distinctness from Aphrocallistes Beatrix, as also to fill in many links missing in my friend Professor Percival Wright's description. Dr. Oscar Schmidt has likewise recently examined this species with results entirely at union with my own. As Professor Wright remarks, the "areas formed by the reticulated skeleton are much more regularly hexagonal in this species than in A. Beatrix, and the "spines (prolongations?) on the bosses are much more attenuate. But it may be added that the whole skeleton is much more slender, and is wanting in that echinate aspect of the bosses and shafts of the radii, characteristic of A. Beatrix. The spicula of the sarcode are also very different, the "porecto multiradiate" spicules are not wanting as Professor Wright imagined, and which in fact appear to constitute the type form of the genus; but there are none of the verticillately spined ones so abundant in A. Beatrix; while, on the other hand, Aphrocallistes Bocagei is at once recognized by the abundant presence of hexradiate spicula, having one extremity of the shaft profusely spinous and accordingly bearing a close resemblance to those that occur in Pheronema Grayi, the opposite extremity of the shaft being frequently very attenuate, as shown at Plate LXV., Fig. 10: the terminations of all the other radii are usually more or less minutely and erectly spined. Dr. Bowerbank figures a spiculum of A. Beatrix belonging to the same type,* but the terminations of the radii are quite smooth, and the form is scarce comparatively to what obtains in Aphrocallistes Bocagei; this latter feature I remark after careful examination of examples of both species.

Farrea occa, Bowerbank.

A fragment of this species was first figured and alluded to by Professor Owen in his eloquent description of the matchless Euplectella aspergillum,† where it is described as the basal mass of some

*Proc. Zool. Soc.,' pl. xxii., 1869.

† See Trans. Linn. Soc.,' vol. xx., pl. xxi.