TENTACULATA 



153 



Fig. 250 Bolinopsis in- 

 fundibulum (Mayer). 



auricle ; 

 mouth. 



2, oral lobe ; 



FAMILY 1. BOLINOPSIDAE. 



Oral lobes of medium size; auricles short: 3 genera. 



BOLINOPSIS Agassiz (Bolina Mertens). With the characteristics of 

 the family; combs not prolonged onto the oral 

 lobes : 6 genera. 



B. infundibulum (0. F. Miiller) (B. alata 

 Ag.) (Fig. 250). Body up to 15 cm. long, of 

 a transparent bluish-white color: from Vine- 

 yard Sound to Labrador, often very common 

 north of Cape Cod. 



FAMILY 2. MNEMIIDAE. 



Lobes large, each bounded on each side 

 by a deep lateral furrow which extends to the 

 aboral end of the body; auricles long and 

 slender: 4 genera. 



MNEMIOPSIS Agassiz. Auricles long and 

 large ; combs prolonged onto the lobes almost to 

 their oral ends: 3 species. 



M. leidyi A. Agassiz (Fig. 251). Body up to 10 cm. long and very 

 transparent, at night very phosphorescent: Long Island and Vineyard 

 Sounds and south to the Carolinas, often in large 

 swarms; often parasitized by a sea anemone, 

 Edwardsia leidyi. 



M. garden! Ag. Length 4 cm.; lobes rather 

 small and covered with warts; body translucent or 

 bluish in color: Chesapeake Bay to Florida; 

 abundant. 



ORDER 3. CESTIDA. 



Body flattened in the plane of the tentacles 

 and so enormously extended in the plane of the 

 stomach that it has the shape of a ribbon which 

 may be a meter or more long by 8 cm. high ; 4 of 

 the combs (the subtentacular) are very short, the 

 other 4 are very long; tentacles more or less rudi- 

 mentary, tentacle sheaths deep : 2 genera. 

 With the characters of the order: 2 species. 



C. veneris Les. Venus' girdle. Body transparent, shimmering with 

 violet, blue, or green : tropical seas, occasionally brought to our shores by 

 the Gulf Stream, fragments of the animal being occasionally seen on the 

 New England coast. . 



Fig. 251 Mnemiopsis 

 leidyi (Mayer). 1, au- 

 ricle ; 2, oral lobe ; 3, 

 mouth. 



CESTUS Lesueur. 



