7. Thalassoxanthium bifurcum, Haeckel.
Thalassosphæra bifurca, Haeckel, 1862, Monogr. d. Radiol., p. 260, Taf. xii. fig. 1.
Sphærozoum bifurcum, Haeckel, 1860, Monatsber. d. k. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin, p. 845.
Spicula all geminate and double forked, composed of a simple axial rod and two forked branches on each end; these branches are again forked, so that each spiculum exhibits eight thin distal ends. All branches are thin, slender and straight. Central capsule red, four times as broad as the central nucleus, containing between the red pigment-granules numerous, peculiar, violin-shaped bodies (fat-corpuscles?). Compare fig. 1, loc. cit.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the central capsule 0.08, of the nucleus 0.02, length of the spicula 0.05 to 0.08.
Habitat.—Mediterranean (Messina), surface, Haeckel.
8. Thalassoxanthium ovodimare, n. sp.
Spicula all geminate, composed of a simple, very short axial rod and three diverging shanks or branches on each end of it; the shanks are very thin, straight, or little curved, and eight to ten times as long as the axial rod. The spicula are quite smooth, as in the similar Sphærozoum ovodimare (in which, however, the axial rod is much longer). Central capsule transparent, without oil-globules, twice as broad as the nucleus.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the capsule 0.4, of the nucleus 0.2, length of the spicula 0.1 to 0.2.
Habitat.—Central Pacific, Station 273, surface.