1 We have every reason to believe that this species also passed Ust Zylma, though we had no opportunity of positively identifying it until we obtained the bird at Meekitza (vide 'Ibis,' Oct. 1876, p. 440). Upon an examination of the above Tables it will be seen that the fauna of North-east Russia, as observed by Mr. 96. Fuligula marila (L.) 102. Mergus albellus, L.. 103. merganser, L. 104. serrator, L. 105. Sterna hirundo, L. XXIV.-Description of some Sponges obtained during a Cruise of the Steam-Yacht Argo in the Caribbean and neighbouring Seas. By THOMAS HIGGIN, F.L.S. [Plate XIV.] LAST winter Mr. Reginald Cholmondeley, of Condover Hall, Shropshire, chartered the 'Argo,' a new steam-yacht of over 700 tons burthen, for a voyage to the West Indies, with the primary object of increasing his already fine collection of birds; but desiring to extend the advantages of the trip to the Liverpool Museum, he courteously invited the Committee to name a gentleman to accompany him as his guest on behalf of that institution; and the Rev. H. H. Higgins of Rainhill, so well known as an enthusiastic and devoted worker for and supporter of the Museum from its foundation, was selected for this complimentary and important work. The yacht left the Mersey early in January 1876, and returned in May following, having visited most of the West-India Islands, the coast of Central America, the southern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and the Bahamas. The sponges now described and figured form part of the valuable collection brought home by Mr. Higgins; and it is a matter of great satisfaction that in one of them, perhaps the most beautiful in form, an opportunity is afforded of naming it after him generically and thus connecting his name permanently with the expedition and its results, while it may express in a slight degree our sense of the obligations under which he has placed us by so many years of patient work at the Museum, and in the interests of natural history and science generally during his long residence in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. I shall commence, then, with the species Higginsia coralloides, which may be considered as typical of the genus Higginsia. Higginsia coralloides, n. g. et sp. (Pl. XIV. figs. 1–5.) General form flabellate, consisting of lobate compressed branches of irregular and luxuriant growth, united clathrously or continuously, rising from a short dense stem; surface deeply furrowed in a vertical direction, the ridges between the furrows being narrow and in the young growths serrated with tooth-like projections, passing in the older portions into rounded or tubercled prominences, thus giving the sponge (which now in its dried state is white) its peculiarly coral-like ap pearance. The structure is a spiculiferous network of lozenge-shaped reticulation, in which the spicules are held firmly in position by tough hardened sarcode, not generally enclosed in this horny material, but cemented together by it where they touch or cross each other, the fibre being echinated by smooth spicules which project from its interior into the interstices at various angles, and the surface hirsute. Spicules of two kinds-namely, smooth acerates forming the skeleton-structure, and spined acerates, chiefly confined to the sarcode and the surface of the sponge. The skeleton-spicule is a smooth, stout, curved acerate, whose ends are slightly bent outwards, measuring 0.025 inch in length by 0.001 inch in the middle, its strongest part (fig. 2), associated with which are fine slender straight acerates in small quantity, sometimes longer than the others, measuring only 0.0002 inch in diameter (fig. 3). The spicules of the sarcode are likewise acerate and only slightly bent, variable in size, but averaging in their largest forms 0.008 inch in length by 0.00025 inch in diameter in the middle, found generally throughout the sponge, but especially in the furrows of the surface, where they are congregated together in masses and lie in a horizontal position. Size of specimen 7 inches in height, with a similar breadth; length of stem from basal attachment to first lateral projection 1 inch, diameter of stem 1 inch by to, diameter of flabellate portion to inch. Colour, in its present dried state, cream-white. Loc. Carinage Harbour, Grenada, West Indies. This beautiful sponge, which is the only example of the species in the Argo' collection, was obtained by the Rev. H. H. Higgins from Mr. Thomas G. Rowley of St. George's, Grenada, and is said to have been got by diving. As regards its skeleton, it is in excellent preservation and very perfect; but it has been carefully cleaned and consequently has lost much of its sarcode, together, probably, with many of the spined acerates, which in the living state existed in large quantities in the form of a matted surface-covering, since, as before stated, masses of them still remain in the furrows. Although this sponge is the only example of the species in the Argo' collection, the genus is represented by other specimens in the Liverpool Museum, and also by several sponges from South Africa in the British Museum. In all cases the skeleton-structure is made up of smooth spicules, either of the acerate form only, or of acerates and acuates in varying quantities, more or less bent rather than curved in the centre; and the fibre is always more or less echinated, the spicule of the sarcode being in every instance a spined acerate. All the specimens so far known are, with one exception, |
