Genus 110. Arachnosphæra,[1] Haeckel, 1862, Monogr. d. Radiol., p. 355.
Definition.—Astrosphærida with five to ten or more cortical, concentric, polyhedral, or spherical lattice-shells, composed of a very thin cobweb-like network; innermost shell with hexagonal (regular) or polygonal (irregular) meshes; other shells with larger, irregular, polygonal meshes.
The genus Arachnosphæra (accurately described by me in 1862, loc. cit.) differs from the two preceding genera in the irregular form of the large meshes in all shells (except often the innermost). This is caused by the ramification of the thin threads, which on each shell connect the neighbouring spines. In Arachnopila and Arachnopegma the threads pass directly and undivided from each spine to the neighbouring spine (three pairs from the three edges), and therefore all meshes are triangular. In Arachnosphæra they become polygonal by irregular ramification of the threads. There are here no diagonal threads.
Subgenus 1. Arachnosphærella, Haeckel.
Definition.—Pores of the innermost shell regular, hexagonal.
1. Arachnosphæra oligacantha, Haeckel.
Innermost shell with regular, hexagonal meshes; its diameter three times as long as the equal distances between every two concentric shells. Fifteen to twenty radial spines scattered at wide intervals, each with six to eight verticils.
Dimensions.—Diameter of the innermost shell 0.12; distance between the concentric shells 0.04 to 0.05.
Habitat.—Mediterranean (Messina), surface, Haeckel.
2. Arachnosphæra myriacantha, Haeckel.
Innermost shell with regular, hexagonal meshes; its diameter twice as long as the equal distances between every two concentric shells. At each nodal-point occurs one radial spine with six to eight verticils (spines in all one hundred to one hundred and twenty or more).
Dimensions.—Diameter of the innermost shell 0.1; distance between the concentric shells 0.04 to 0.05.
Habitat.—Cosmopolitan; Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, surface.
- ↑ Arachnosphæra = Cobweb-sphere; ἀράχνη, σφαῖρα.
