Genus 29. Collosphæra,[1] J. Müller, 1855.
Definition.—Collosphærida with simple shells, smooth on the inside and on the outside, without any spines or tubuli.
The genus Collosphæra is the most simple form of all Collosphærida, and must be regarded as the common ancestral form of this family. As the lattice-shell is quite a simple sphere, without any spines, tubules, or other peculiar productions, it agrees perfectly with Cenosphæra, and represents the social or polyzoid aggregate of this solitary or monozoid genus. Therefore a certain distinction between the isolated shells of the two genera is often very difficult or even impossible; but commonly this distinction is possible owing to the circumstance, that in the majority of the Collosphæræ the shell is more or less irregular roundish or polyhedral, not quite spherical, as in Cenosphæra. Dermatosphæra, Ehrenberg, is a Collosphæra with small pores (compare L. N. 16, p. 533).
Subgenus 1. Eucollosphæra, Haeckel.
Definition.—Shell a regular or subregular sphere.
1. Collosphæra primordialis, n. sp.
Shell a regular sphere, with very delicate and regular network of hexagonal meshes. Six to eight meshes in the half meridian of the shell. Diameter of the meshes ten to fifteen times as broad as the thin bars between them. Can be regarded as social form of Cenosphæra primordialis.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the shell 0.1 to 0.12, of the pores 0.008.
Habitat.—Central Pacific, Stations 271 to 274, surface.
2. Collosphæra regularis, n. sp.
Shell a regular sphere, with a perfectly regular network of circular meshes, all of the same size. Ten to twelve meshes in the half meridian of the shell. Diameter of the meshes the same as that of the bars between them.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the shell 0.1 to 0.12, of the pores 0.005 to 0.006.
Habitat.—Indian Ocean, Madagascar, surface, Rabbe.
3. Collosphæra globularis, n. sp.
Shell a regular sphere, with subregular network of circular meshes of different sizes; few large pores between many smaller pores. Ten to twenty meshes in the half meridian of the shell. Diameter of the meshes from half to twice as broad as that of the bars.
- ↑ Collosphæra = Jelly-sphere; κόλλα, σφαῖρα.
