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

;624 COLLECTIONS FROM THE WESTERN INDIiJT OCEAN.lower part of sponge glabrous. Consistence is spirit very tough,elastic ; colour duU olivaceous brown.Main skeleton rather loose, formed of broad tracts of looselyaggregated spicules, horizontally or obliquely arrtiuged with regardto the surface, and of intercrossing spicules loosely scattered betweenthem ; that of the cortex, which forms a denser layer, consists ofmore compact bundles, lU to 15 spicules broad, placed verticallywith regard to the surface, from which their points project ; thebundles are from '1 to "14 millim. apart. Sarcode subtransparent,bright greenish brown, crowded with globular cells about •Oil millim.broad, with largo nucleus and one or more opaque granules.Spicules :—(1) Skeleton spinulate, smooth, straight or slightlycurved; head oval, longitudinally elongate, slightly flattened at freeend, of about same diameter as middle of shaft, tapering graduallyfrom centre of shaft to sharp apex ; size of spicule "4 by "OlS millim.(2) Spinispirular, short, slender, consisting of about four bends,about 6 spines to a bend ; spines sharp, about '002 mUlim. longsize of spicule -02 by -002 millim. (exclusive of spines).Hah. Mozambique, between tide-marks.Distribution. Mauritius (Carter).The greatest height of the single spirit-specimen representing thisspecies is 65 millim. (2| inches), the greatest diameter 25 millim.its form is that of a much drawn-out, truncate cone, compressed sothat the long diameter is about twice that of the small one ; thereis a nodular process, 5 millim. high, on one side near the extremitythe base includes a large amount of coarse foreign bodies. Thecharacters agree well with those given by Mr. Carter (Z. c.) for afragment from Mauritius. It is nearly related to Hymeniacidonanf/ulata of Bowerbank (Madeira), and vagabunda and decumbens,mihi (Austi-alia, this Eeport, Part. I. pp. 468, 470); but it is distinguishedreadily from all by its very short spinispirular spicule.48. Tethya cliftoni.Tethea cliftoni, Bowerbank, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 16, pi. iii. figs. 14-18.A single specimen, cream -white, covered with low papillae about1-5 millim. in diameter. The species, unless the separation of thelarge stellates into two distinct dermal zones proves to be constant anddistinctive, can hardly be kept distinct from T. ingalli (Freemantle,Australia) and T. robasta (Australia), both of Bowerbank, the chiefT. cliftoni isdifference being in the diameter of the acuate, which inabout "025 millim., in T. ingalli '035 millim., and in T. robusta "045millim. Again, all three species are scarcely more than varietallydistinct from T. lyncurrum of Europe, differing from it mainly inthe greater distinctness of the heads of the small stellates,Hab, SeycheUe Islands, 12 fms.Distribution. S.W. Australia {Bowerbank),