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Show 1869.] DR. J. S. BOWERBANK ON THEONELLA. 389 worm is a foreign importation is what I have already, in my previous paper, suggested. The chief habitats for worms of this peculiar genus are Ceylon and India. W e have specimens also of a species from A-Vustralia. In a second letter from Mr. Fish, dated April 9th, he further says, as to its foreign origin, "I think it probable the worms come from the Cape of Good Hope, or some part of Africa. The proprietor of Glevering Hall, where I first met them, was a great fancier of bulbs and imported a good many; and it was in a large Crinum-amabile pot that I first found the worm. M y theory is that they came from Glevering here (Hardwick House), as it is quite possible that plants may have been exchanged between the two places." "They seem to have no fear of moles, as when disturbed they rush inwards, and not outwards as our common worm always does." Mr. Fish, in repeating that he has known this worm for twenty years, says that he has observed it for the last fourteen years at Hardwick House. I have very little doubt that this curious worm will be found in various gardens throughout Great Britain. 5. O n Dr. Gray's Genus Theonella. B y J. S. B O W E R B A N K , LL.D., F.R.S., F.Z.S., &c. On October the 23rd, 1868, 1 visited the British Museum for the purpose of reexamining some of the Siliceo-fibrous Sponges before sending m y paper on that subject to this Society; and I then saw, for the first time, the specimen from Formosa sent by Mr. Swinhoe. I pointed it out to Dr. Baird, and expressed my wish to examine it. He forthwith conveyed it to the entomological department, where I closely inspected its structures and satisfied myself that it was a specimen of m y previously named Dactylocalyx Prattii; and as such I have alluded to it in the first part of m y paper on the Siliceo-fibrous Sponges, which was read at the meeting of this Society, January 28, 1869. I was not then aware that Dr. Gray had read a paper on the Formosan Sponge on November 12, 1868, immediately after m y inspection of it at the British Museum. I received my copy of the ' Proceedings' of the Society on the 28th of April last, and I then saw Dr. Gray's description of the Formosan specimen under the designation of " Note on Theonella, a new genus of Coral-loid Sponges from Formosa," P. Z. S. 1868, p. 565, and a very excellent woodcut of the sponge, p. 566. Having previously become well acquainted with the specimen, I was somewhat surprised to see it designated as a new genus. The author's generic characters are ample enough it is true, as he embraces not only external form and the skeleton-structure, but every other character with which he became acquainted ; but unfortunately he describes the anatomical structure so incorrectly as to inevitably lead the student into doubt and difficulty in the very first stage of PROC. ZOOL. Soc*.-1869, No. XXVI. |