Radial spines cylindrical, irregularly curved and branched, about twice as long as the diameter of the shell; the branches are all again ramified and partly confluent (as in Pl. [107], fig. 1). The branches and the bars of the network are of equal breadth, smooth (not thorny as in the similar preceding species). Meshes rather subregular, quadrangular.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the shell 2.4 to 2.8, length of the spines 4 to 5 mm., breadth 0.015.
Habitat.—Tropical Atlantic, Station 348, depth 2450 fathoms.
8. Oroscena duncanii, n. sp.
? Hexactinellida dictyonina, Martin Duncan, 1881, Journ. Roy. Micr. Soc., p. 175, pl. iii. figs. 4, 6.
Radial spines cylindrical, thorny, arborescent, somewhat shorter than the diameter of the shell, with irregular ramified branches (similar to Orosphæra arborescens, Pl. [106], fig. 3). The size and ramification of the arborescent spinulate branches decrease towards the apex. The thicker branches are from two to three times as broad as the spinulate bars of the network. Meshes of the latter irregular, the majority quadrangular.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the shell 3.2, length of the spines 3.5 to 4.5, breadth 0.02 to 0.3.
Habitat.—South Atlantic, Station 318, depth 2040 fathoms; coast of Portugal, 1095 fathoms.
Genus 674. Oroplegma,[[293]] n. gen.
Definition.—Orosphærida with a spongy, spherical or slightly polyhedral lattice-shell, which is enveloped by a loose spongy framework and bears numerous radial spines.