III.—Note on a Siliceous Sponge of the Order Hexactinellida from South Shetland

Extract

The specimen was presented to me by Mr G. Millen Coughtrey, who obtained it in Admiralty Bay, South Shetland, lat. 62° S., and long. 58° W., in 1912. It was procured in about 20 fathoms, and was brought to the surface when the ship's anchor was weighed. It consisted of white, delicate, thread-like spicules collected into two tufts or bundles. At the first glance the threads might easily have been mistaken for white hair, but they would not burn; neither were they calcareous, for they were not acted on by mineral acids. From their vitreous appearance they were obviously siliceous and indeed were not unlike spunglass. Their aspect and composition led me to regard them as belonging to a siliceous sponge, but the body of the sponge was wanting. In its absence one had to rely on the characters of the tufts and spicules in attempting to determine the genus of the sponge.