Genus 67. Stauracontium,[[92]] Haeckel, 1881, Prodromus, p. 452.
Definition.—Staurosphærida with three concentric lattice-spheres and four crossed, equal, simple spines.
The genus Stauracontium differs from its probable ancestral form, Staurolonche, in the duplication of the cortical shell.
Subgenus 1. Stauracontarium, Haeckel.
Definition.—Pores of the cortical shell regular, all of nearly equal size and similar form; surface smooth.
1. Stauracontium cruciferum, n. sp.
Cortical shell thin walled, smooth, with regular, hexagonal pores, four times as broad as the bars; eight to ten on the quadrant. Radial proportion of the three spheres = 1 : 3 : 9. Connecting radial beams between them six (opposite in pairs in the three dimensive axes), but only four of them are prolonged outside into four stout three-sided prismatic spines, lying in one equatorial plane, as long as the shell diameter.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the outer shell 0.22, middle 0.07, inner 0.025; cortical pores 0.012, bars 0.003; length of the spines 0.2.
Habitat.—Central Pacific, Station 268, depth 2900 fathoms.
2. Stauracontium tetracanthum, Haeckel.