LKPTOMEDUS.fi MF.LICKiriVM, M K LICKHTISS \. _>()() 



Melicertum georgicum A. Agassiz. 



Melicertum georgif urn, \CASSIZ, A.., in I,. Agassiz's, 1862, Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., vol. 4, p. 349; 1865, North American Ac.il, 

 p. 135, figs. 115, 216. HAECKEL, 1879, Syst. der Medusen, p. 137. 



Bell pointed above; 20 mm. high, 20 mm. wide. About 30 to 40 tentacles with large 

 basal bulbs. No peduncle. Stomach wide, flat, and octagonal. Mouth long, with 4 ( ' r) lips. 

 8 gonads covering nearly the entire lengths of the 8 radial-canals, but not touching the ring- 

 canal. Manubrium, gonads, and tentacle-bulbs yellow. 



Pacific coast of North America, State of Washington, in July. 



Distinguished by its small number of tentacles and 4 ( ?) lips. Is it identical with M. 

 campanula Agassiz ? 



Melicertum panocto. 

 Mtlicertflla panocto, HAECKEL, 1879, Syst. der Medusen, p. 135. 



Bell is high, rounded, nearly barrel-shaped, 10 mm. high, 8 mm. wide. No marginal 

 clubs or cirri. 8 tentacles longer than bell-diameter, with very large, globular basal bulbs. 

 A black ocellus on each tentacle-bulb. The ocellus is flanked by a half-moon-shaped black 

 spot on both sides. Stomach octagonal, prismatic, half as long as bell-height. 8 long, much 

 folded, crinkled lips. 8 spindle-shaped gonads developed upon entire lengths of 8 radial- 

 canals. Color ( ?) Azores, Atlantic. 



Described by Haeckel from a preserved specimen. May it not be a specimen of .\f,li- 

 certissa clavigera which has lost its marginal clubs ? 



Melicertum (?) Aglantha (?) proboscifer Maas. 

 Mcliccrtum proboscifer, MAAS, 1897, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. at Harvard College, vol. 13, p. 19, taf. z, fign. 5-7. 



Bell rounded, 40 mm. wide, 15 mm. high; bell-walls quite thin. No apical projection. 

 About 1 60 or more short, slender, tapering tentacles, nearly all of which were broken off 

 short in the specimen studied by Maas. No lithocysts observed. Velum weaklv developed. 

 8 straight, narrow radial-canals and a simple, marginal ring-canal. Stomach small, urn- 

 shaped, and mounted upon a narrow, long, cylindrical peduncle as long as depth of bell- 

 cavity so that the stomach projects beyond velar opening. There are 8 short, recurved, 

 somewhat folded lips. 8 sausage-shaped gonads arise from middle of subumbrella lengths of 

 the 8 radial-canals and project outward into bell-cavity. 



Entodermal parts, including interstitial lamella of bell, intense carmine; tentacles 

 rose-colored. 



Found in the Gulf of Panama, Pacific coast of Central America, in March, 1891, by the 

 Albatross. 



I believe that future studies will show that this medusa is one of the Aglauridae, possi- 

 bly Aglantha. Its slender (solid ?), brittle tentacles, 8 sausage-shaped gonads, and lon<;, 

 cylindrical peduncle are all characters of Aglant/ia. The lithocysts of Aglauridae are often dif- 

 ficult to observe owing to their being readily lost, even in living medusae, and in preserved 

 specimens they are rarely detected. All known species of A yluntha have 4 lips, but this medusa 

 is said to have 8; however, its general appearance is wholly unlike that of any other Meli- 

 certum, but closely resembles that of the known species of Aglantlia. 



Genus MELICERTISSA Haeckel, 1879, sens, emend. 



\lelicertissa+ Melicrrlitlium, HAECKEL, 1879, Syst. tier MeJusen, pp. 124, i;c, 137. 

 Mflicerltjiurn, MAAS, 1905, CraspcdotrM MrdiiM-n der Siboga Expedition, Monog. lo, p. IJ. 

 Melicertiisa, BROWNF, 1907, Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. zo, p. 476. 



CKNKRIC CHARACTKRS. 



Thaumantiadae with S simple radial-canals upon which the 8 gonads are developed. 

 8 lips and 8 or more marginal tentacles. Marginal sense-clubs or cirri, or both, are present. 

 Development unknown. 



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