Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

SPONGIIDA, 427acerate. Judging by the present specimens, A. fihulata wants alsothe purple colour of FJiorbas, on which Mr. Carter lays so muchweight ; so that I see nothing but the general external form bywhich to connect this species with Phorbas, and this cannot suiBcefor a point of affinity in the Spongiida,62. GeUiodes fihulata.(Plate XXXIX. fig. I ; Plate XLI. figs, bb-bb".)? Spongia rubispina, Lamarck, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. xx. p. 450.? Axos fibulata, Carter, Ann. ^ Mag. N. H. 1881, vii. p. 383, pi. xviii.fig. 4.Long cylindrical stems, given off from a common base, but notin a plane, irregularly curved, anastomosing at points of contact,aculeated at intervals of about 2 to 5 millim. by strong but slendersharp spines 2 to 3 millim. long ; intermediate surface more or lesscavernous, the spaces more or less tympanized by membrane whichis semitrausparent in spirit, transparent in the dried state. Skeletonfibrevery compact, but exhibiting no horny material ; main fibresgoing direct to surface, "18 to -28 millim. thick; secondaries givenoff" at various angles from primaries and at intervals of '43 millim.and upwards, "088 to "18 millim. thick. Sarcode transparent, withonly the faintest tint of yellow. Spicules :—(1) Acerate, smooth,tapering gradually to sharp points from near middle, slightly andgradually curved ; size -25 by •00G3 millim. ; forming the fibres.(2) Bihamate, smooth, slender, with fine points, well curved ; size•016 by '001 millim. Texture of sponge in dry state firm, veryharsh to touch, slightly flexible : colour pale or darkish brown.Hab. Prince of Wales Channel and Thursday Island, TorresStraits, 3-10 fms. Abundant.Distribution. Bass's Straits {Carter)!Single branches attain a length of about 100 millim. (4 inches),and the largest colony is IGO millim. (6|^ inches) high. The speciesdifi'ers from Lamarck's description of S. rubispina in wanting thewhite incrustation, and in not being branched in a fan-like manner;it is doubtful what he means by an " encroutement coriace." Aspecimen in the Lamarckian collection named Spongia licheniformishaving apparently formed part of a turbinate or flattened mass,even on one side and beset with low but sharp distant monticulareminences on the other, has an almost identical spiculation, but thefibres are less stout and are decidedly loose in their structure. Itseems to me that we have here a small natural assemblage of formsrepresenting a more primitive type of Desmacidinidae than the formswith anchorate spicules.AMPHILECTUS.Vosmaer, Family Desmacidi7ii(l(P , Notes Roy. Mus. Netherl. ii. p. 109.Although this genus as defined by Vosmaer appears to have