TIIK ANNALS AKl) MAGAZINE OF NATIJRAL HISTOIIY. [SEVENTH SKIUES.] No. 34. OCTOBER 1900. X LI 1 1. — Description of Sponges from Funafuti. By R. KiRKPATRiCK, Assistant, Natural History Museum. [Plates XIII.-XV.] 'J'llEsponp^es described intliis paper were obtained by the second linrincr Expedition to Funafuti, and were entrusted to me by Prot. Judd tor description. The specimens, which are mostly very small, incrust or are attached to fragments of corals ami corallines dredged up from dcjiths of from 30 "to lia fathoms. The fragments were obtained only with great difficulty, since they had to be detached from the bottom by means of chisels. The collection includes the representatives of tweuty-or»e species, of which eleven are new. In 1897 Mr. Whitelegge described (30, p. 323) from the same locality a small collection obtained from the surface of the reefs. Of the sixteen species recorded by him only one occurs in the present collection. Altogether thirty-six species have been recorded from this locality. The special features of interest are the occurrence (1) of Astroschra Willei/aua^ Lister, which represents a new family, or, possibly, order of calcareous sponges, (2) of a recent species of the Lithonine genus Pleclroninia, hitherto found only in the Eocene, and (3) of a new genus of Clionid*. Ann. dj Mag. A'. /list. Ser. 7. Vol. vi. 23
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