Mr. H. J. Carter on a Variety o/Spongilla Meyeni. 247 or part of a specimen of this species is known to exist in any museum. 10. Balcena cisai'ctica, the Black Whale of the whalers of the east coast of the United States of America, may be the same as B. nodosa. There is a skeleton in the Museum of the Aca-demy of Sciences, Philadelphia ; and it is probably a skeleton of this species that ^' is exposed to all weathers on the roof of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Massa-chusetts." (See Agassiz, Rep. 1864-65.) How far the sjoecies indicated range beyond the habitats whence they were received is yet to be discovered and re-corded. No doubt their range is influenced by many local circumstances (peculiarities in the currents, and disposition of the food) that are not easily observed or understood. For example, Capt. Maury observes : — " The Sperm-Whale, ac-cording to the result of this chart, appears never to double the Cape of Good Hope. It doubles Cape Horn. Since this fish delights in warni water, shall we not expect to find off Cape Horn an under-current of warm water heavier with its salt?" (Maury, Whale-Charts, p. 267.) XXXII. — On a Variety of Spongilla Meyeni from the Exe, Devonshire. By H. J. Carter, F.R.S. &c. Spongilla Meyeni {Ephydatia, Gray)*, var. Parfitti, Carter. Massive, flat, more or less lobed, sessile, spreading. Colour greenish, yellowish. Texture friable. Structure reticulate. Seed-like bodies spheroidal, accumulated towards the base, largest about -^^ inch in diameter. Spicules of skeleton fusiform, slightly arched, acerate, abruptly pointed, largest -^ inch long ; of two kinds, smooth and spinous ; one-third of the largest thickly set with short vertical spines through-out, except towards the points. Spicules of seed-like body birotulate, -g-oVo inch long, more or less sparsely scattered throughout the wall of the seed-like body, wherein they are arranged vertically, with the outer rotule projecting a little beyond the amorphous (siliceous?) substance that chiefly keeps the whole together ; rotules deeply dentate, stellate, wider in diameter than the spicular shaft which unites them; shaft cylindrical, the same size throughout. Hab. River Exe, Devonshire ; Salmon-pool Weir, near Exeter. On a beam of wood over which the water falls. In masses attaining a maximum length of 1 foot, with 1;^ inch thick-ness (Mr. Parfitt). * Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. May 9, 1867, p. 550.
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